White man cleared of Mugabe insult charge

A BULAWAYO businessman has been acquitted on charges of insulting President Robert Mugabe after witnesses failed to prove its case in court.

Brian Foster was cleared by a Lupane magistrate, Takudzwa Gwazemba, due to lack of evidence after the police officer who arrested him failed to turn up at the courts.

Foster was arrested last May at a road block along Victoria Falls road for speeding when he allegedly insulted Mugabe.

Prosecutors said the businessman was stopped for speeding and allegedly accused police officers of trying to "raise money for the poor and broke Mugabe government".

It is an offence under Zimbabwe's laws to undermine or insult the President.

However Foster's lawyers argued that their client did not insult the Zimbabwean leader because "Mugabe is not government and it is not a secret that the government is broke."