HARARE – A man has been arrested for saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa is incompetent to run Zimbabwe.
Norman Machipisa, 29, of Epworth, appeared before Harare magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Saturday facing disorderly conduct charges.
Machipisa was arrested after being shopped to the police by a citizen who heard him shouting expletives in central Harare.
Machipisa was freed on $20 bail pending his trial.
Machipisa, who works as a street hawker, was at the Central Vehicle Registry on September 28 when he is alleged to have used colourful language to show his disapproval of the Zanu PF leader’s government.
Prosecuting, Peter Kachirika said Machipisa was heard by the informant, Donaldson Chikotera, 27, shouting on top of his voice saying: “Mnangagwa imhata, haagone kutonga nyika” (Mnangagwa is an asshole. He’s incapable of leading this country).
Chikotera, who was minding his business, was annoyed by Machipisa’s utterances, the court heard.
He went on to apprehend him and dragged him to Harare Central Police Station and handed him over to the police.
He was charged with disorderly conduct as defined in Section 41 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23.
Earlier this year, another political activist, Gustav Kativhu, was arrested over a similar offence after he called Mnangagwa a murderer.
His case collapsed after the state repeatedly postponed his trial.
In Bulawayo, last month, a man who allegedly called Mnangagwa a dog was acquitted on charges of “disorderly conduct in a public place”.
David Ndlovu, of Evelyne Road in Saucerstown, was freed by Bulawayo magistrate Gladmore Mushowe.
“What’s clear though is that there was no commotion or disturbance of peace after the accused allegedly uttered those words,” the magistrate said as she discharged the commuter omnibus driver.
In the case of William Gerald Mutumanje aka Acie Lumumba who once said “fuck Robert Mugabe”, the former President, prosecutors withdrew charges saying there was “no public interest in the matter”.
