Opposition MDC-T activist Naison Mudzuri has been summoned to re-appear in court for allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe four years ago.
By Tatenda Chitagu
Mudzuri together with National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) employee, Polite Zambezi were on Tuesday summoned to court to answer charges of undermining the authority of or insulting President Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
Mudzuri is young brother to former Energy minister and MDC-T executive member, Elias Mudzuri.
According to the State, Mudzuri was first arrested and charged on September 9, 2013 before being put off remand. He allegedly accused Mugabe of causing the socio-economic problems the country was currently facing.
Prosecutors charged that Mudzuri also accused some die-hard Zanu PF supporters of having blind loyalty to Mugabe, whom he blamed for failing to improve the people’s living standards for all the years he has been president while using former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a smokescreen for Zimbabwe’s problems.
The State further alleges that Mudzuri said the Zanu PF members should instead support MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai if they wanted better living standards.
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However, Mudzuri’s trial failed to kick off on Tuesday after his lawyer Blessing Nyamaropa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) filed preliminary objections to the commencement of trial for lack of compliance with Section 34 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23, which requires Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana to authorise such prosecutions.
In Mudzuri’s case, the letter of authority to prosecute was only signed by a chief law officer based in Masvingo and not by the Prosecutor-General.
On the other hand, Zambezi was yesterday expected to appear at Mwenezi Magistrates’ Court after he was summoned to stand trial on charges of undermining the authority of or insulting Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (b) of the Criminal law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
Zambezi was initially arrested in November 24, 2012 while aboard a commuter omnibus after he allegedly composed and chanted a song with the lyrics; “Mugabe will be hanged like Saddam (Hussein).”
