Zim court acquits pastor Mugadza over anti-govt protest

A prominent Zimbabwean cleric, who prophesied that President Robert Mugabe would die in 2017, has been set free by a magistrate in Zimbabwe.

Pastor Patrick Mugadza, 46, of the Remnant Church was charged of criminal nuisance following a protest he staged in November 2016, where he tied himself to some steel rails while demonstrating against President Robert Mugabe's administration.

Mugadza torched a storm when he predicted that Zimbabwe's longtime ruler would die on October 17 this year. The cleric urged 92 year-old Mugabe to confess to his sins and pray hard in order to avoid the impending death.

The pastor - now commonly known as the 'Mugabe-must-go-pastor' - chained himself to a pole while holding a cross in one hand and a Bible in the other, before speaking to passersby for an hour and half about "what we are supposed to do to free ourselves from the ills which are taking place in our nation".

In a statement, Mugadza said he was blasting "the cowardice where the majority of our people are silent when just but everything is going in the wrong direction under our watch".

Mugadza, who had been on trial since last year, was arrested on 22 November 2016 and charged with criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 after he had chained and padlocked himself onto some fencing rails at Africa Unity Square in Harare while staging an anti-government protest.

The clergyman, who was represented by Gift Mtisi and Kuzivakwashe Ngodza of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, was set free on Friday 18 May 2018 by Magistrate Blessing Murwisi, who found him not guilty and acquitted him after ruling that the state failed to prove its case beyond any reasonable doubt.

Magistrate Murwisi also ruled that the state failed to present independent witnesses to corroborate the evidence of the three witnesses, who are all police officers and who testified during Pastor Mugadza's trial.

In December 2016, Mugadza led a one-man demonstration in Victoria Falls during the ruling Zanu-PF's national conference where he waved a placard inscribed: "Mr President, the people are suffering. Proverbs 21:13."

The Bible verse reads: "Whoever closes his ears to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered."

He was charged with criminal nuisance and spent 18 days in prison before being rescued by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and is currently out on US$50 bail.