HARARE – A Harare doctor has been convicted for cyberbullying after he  sent an email to his work colleague he labelled an unqualified neurologist.

Lenon Gwaunza was found guilty by a Harare magistrate Batsiraishe Zishiri after a full trial.

He was remanded out of custody and now awaits sentencing on December 20.

Gwaunza apologised for what he did to his colleague, a Dr Andrew Mataruse stating that it was not his intention to bully him.

The state proved that Gwaunza sent an e-mail, copied to other doctors saying Mataruse was not a qualified clinical neurologist.

The State said the generated message by Gwaunza stated, “I was volunteering at Pari and I have from immediate effect relinquished that role, so I will be unable to supervise Dr. Mushawarima.

“Secondly, Dr. Mushawarima is a fully fledged neurologist who doesn’t need to be supervised by myself or by Dr. Mataruse who isn’t a clinically-trained neurologist.

“However, council feels it’s in Dr. Mushawarima’s interest that he is supervised by someone who has never seen the entrance of a neurology training centre.

“Please, by all means, go ahead. I will not be involved in that circus.”

The State said the statement was false and his conduct was criminal and intended to degrade Mataruse by questioning his credentials despite having knowledge that the qualifications were obtained from reputable international universities.

Mataruse is one of the specialist physicians in Zimbabwe and has many post-graduate qualifications including MMed Medicine(UZ), Fellow College of Physicians (Eastern Central Southern Africa College of Physicians), Master of Science in Clinical Neurology (University College London), Specialist Certificate in Clinical neurology (Royal College of Physicians) and Fellow of the European Board Neurology.

He supervised Gwaunza during his senior registrar year of 2020 after being appointed to do so by the Medical and Dental Profession Council of Zimbabwe.

In his ruling, the magistrate said Gwaunza does not deny making the statement which was found to be false.

The court said Gwaunza knew that his statement was false because he was supervised by Mataruse and also had knowledge of his qualifications.

The court also said only the council for medical practitioners was qualified to state whether one is trained, registered or not.

In mitigation, Gwaunza told the court that he is serving the community by engaging in volunteer specialist work at Mpilo Hospital and sending him to prison would deprive the patients of his service.