Police accused of stepping up blitz on citizens, arrest and detain villager over anti Mugabe jibe

ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has said Zimbabwean police on Tuesday 10 November 2015 arrested and incarcerated a 35 year-old villager for allegedly blaming President Robert Mugabe as the author of the country's economic crisis, which had brought untold suffering among some of his ruling ZANU PF party sympathisers.

The orgabnisation said Police at Murehwa Police Station in Mashonaland East province on Wednesday 10 November, 2015 arrested Moenda Mberi, a 35 year-old villager, and charged him for undermining authority or insulting President Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

"The police led by Detective Sergeant Munotumani of the CID Law and Order Unit in Mashonaland East province claimed that Mberi, who reported at Murehwa Police Station on Wednesday 10 November, 2015 after he was summoned to present himself before the law enforcement agents, insulted President Mugabe after he allegedly accused the 91 year-old ZANU PF party leader of having run out of ideas to arrest the country's agonising economic crisis," reported ZLHR.

"The police charged that Mberi, who was represented by Kennedy Masiye of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), when he reported at Murehwa Police Station, uttered some unpalatable words at a beer retail shop located at Juru Growth Point in Goromonzi North constituency in Mashonaland East province."

The organisation said the police claimed that Mberi blamed President Mugabe for the poor fortunes of some ruling ZANU PF party supporters, who were experiencing weight loss despite the promises from their leader who in the run-up to the 2013 general elections had pledged to create two million jobs and help fix the economic crisis.

"Consequently, some overzealous police officers detained Mberi at Murehwa Police Station, where he endured a night in custody before he was freed on Wednesday 11 November, 2015 after Masiye challenged the incarceration of his client as unjustified," ZLHR said.
"Mberi was released at the Murehwa Magistrates Court before he could appear in the courtroom after prosecutors declined to proceed with the matter as they had not secured authority to prosecute the villager from National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head and Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana as provided under the law."

The organisation Mberi denied the allegations leveled against him and charged that they were fabricated as they were brought up by some informants who are affiliated to a rival political party than his.

"There has been a dramatic increase in the arbitrary application of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) in recent years, where individuals have been charged with allegedly "insulting or undermining the authority of the President".

"Since 2010, ZLHR has attended to more than 100 cases where clients have fallen foul of this law and the bulk of the victims are residents and villagers residing in the politically volatile Mashonaland Central province," added the organization.

ZLHR has challenged the constitutionality of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) on several occasions, on the basis that it infringes on freedom of expression, particularly of a public figure, and one who must be subjected to scrutiny as a political candidate.

In courts, the NPA has in recent years and months been withdrawing charges against several suspects after declining prosecution and conceding before Constitutional Court judges that the allegations do not disclose the commission of an offence. This would be after ZLHR attorneys would have petitioned the country's apex court seeking orders challenging the constitutionality of the insult law.