HARARE – Police have arrested a second man in as many weeks accused of insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Abraham Baison, 30, was released on bail by a Harare magistrate on Wednesday after he was charged under section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification) and Reform Act accused of “undermining authority of or insulting the president.”
Lawyers say the law which has been used to target dozens of critics of President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the last year has been found to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.
A Harare magistrate heard that Baison, of Mt Hampden in Harare, rowed with another man while at Row Bricks Farm in his neighbourhood on April 26.
Prosecutors say he shouted: “Muudze Mnangagwa kuti pamhata pake, machende ake, nyini yaamai vaMnangagwa nevanomutsigira vose (swear words insulting Mnangagwa and those that follow him by his anus, testicles and his mother’s vagina).”
Prosecutors allege that Baison uttered the words “publicly, unlawfully and with intent to cause hatred, contempt and ridicule” against Mnangagwa “with the knowledge or realising that there’s a real risk or possibility that the statement is false and that it may engender feelings of hostility towards His Excellency Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.”
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights secured Baison’s release on ZW$500 bail.
Last week, Chrispen Rambu, an MDC councillor in Chipinge was taken to court on the same charges.
The charges arose after he forwarded a WhatsApp message which read: “(Cyril) Ramaphosa just announced a R500 billion stimulus package in South Africa. Seeing him addressing and comparing him with ED [Mnangagwa] you won’t doubt that we are having a fool for a head of state.”
The crime of “undermining the authority of or insulting the President” can land one in jail for a year.
