News / Regional
Bookshop to appear in court for insulting Mugabe
22 Mar 2012 at 06:45hrs | Views
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Rosepet Bookshop will appear in court on Friday, the 23rd of March 2012 to face
allegations of contravening Section 33 (1) (b) of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23, "undermining the authority of
or insulting the President".
This follows the arrest of the Directors of the Rosepet, Sinikiwe Mutore and Mlamuli Mabhena, on the 20th of January 2012 after police from the PISI department (led by a Sergeant Major Obert Sibanda) raided their bookshop and later alleged they had found fliers headlined ZiMafia, Zimbabwe's worst eleven, depicting to President Mugabe leading a team of the most brutal ZANU-PF players inside 10 copies of Morgan Tsvangirai's book, At the Deep End.
Mutore was in January 2012 detained in the filthy, lice and mosquito infested Victoria Falls police holding cells for 3 nights while her co-director, Mlamuli Mabhena, was also arrested and detained for 1 night.
The 2 are now leaving in fear as the police constantly visit their bookshop to see if the Prime Minister's book is back on the shelves. They are afraid that more things could be planted in the other books. It seems the objective is to intimidate them. It is alleged that Sergeant Major Obert Sibanda told the 2 that he wanted to make an example of them. He said after their detention no other bookshop owner in Victoria Falls would dare sell Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's book in Victoria Falls again. However the book is being sold in Harare, Bulawayo and other major towns and was lawfully launched in the eyes of the media and the whole world at the Book Cafe. Sibanda said that Victoria Falls and Matabeleland North was different. He even said that that is why Tsvangirai will never be allowed to hold a rally in the resort town.
Sinikiwe Mutore will stand in the docket in place Rosepet Bookshop which is being represented by Mr Thulani Nkala from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Mr Sifelizwe Mguni of R. Ndlovu and Company. She will plead NOT GUILTY to the charges and will state that the fliers where planted by the police in order to find an excuse to arrest her and her business partner.
This follows the arrest of the Directors of the Rosepet, Sinikiwe Mutore and Mlamuli Mabhena, on the 20th of January 2012 after police from the PISI department (led by a Sergeant Major Obert Sibanda) raided their bookshop and later alleged they had found fliers headlined ZiMafia, Zimbabwe's worst eleven, depicting to President Mugabe leading a team of the most brutal ZANU-PF players inside 10 copies of Morgan Tsvangirai's book, At the Deep End.
Mutore was in January 2012 detained in the filthy, lice and mosquito infested Victoria Falls police holding cells for 3 nights while her co-director, Mlamuli Mabhena, was also arrested and detained for 1 night.
The 2 are now leaving in fear as the police constantly visit their bookshop to see if the Prime Minister's book is back on the shelves. They are afraid that more things could be planted in the other books. It seems the objective is to intimidate them. It is alleged that Sergeant Major Obert Sibanda told the 2 that he wanted to make an example of them. He said after their detention no other bookshop owner in Victoria Falls would dare sell Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's book in Victoria Falls again. However the book is being sold in Harare, Bulawayo and other major towns and was lawfully launched in the eyes of the media and the whole world at the Book Cafe. Sibanda said that Victoria Falls and Matabeleland North was different. He even said that that is why Tsvangirai will never be allowed to hold a rally in the resort town.
Sinikiwe Mutore will stand in the docket in place Rosepet Bookshop which is being represented by Mr Thulani Nkala from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Mr Sifelizwe Mguni of R. Ndlovu and Company. She will plead NOT GUILTY to the charges and will state that the fliers where planted by the police in order to find an excuse to arrest her and her business partner.
Source - Vic Falls Magistrates court
