'Mugabe about to die' comment lands man in trouble

A man from the Zimunya area in Mutare yesterday appeared at the Mutare Magistrates' Court for allegedly describing President Robert Mugabe as a dying person.

Samuel Jackson (35) was not asked to plead to charges of contravening Section 44 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9: 23 - disrupting a public gathering - when he appeared before magistrate Sekai Chiundura. He was granted $30 bail and remanded to April 2 for trial.

Public prosecutor Donald Mudadirwa told the court that on January 21 this year, Jackson passed through the Zimunya Community shed where Zanu-PF members were holding a meeting.

Jackson allegedly disrupted the meeting when he shouted to the effect that Zanu-PF was now rotten and Mugabe was about to die.

This did not go down well with Terrence Zimunya, who was one of the security members at the gathering, who approached Jackson and advised him to stop making the offensive remarks.

Jackson would have none of it and continued shouting, leading to Zimunya handing him over to the police.