Premature to celebrate Concourt ruling

Editorial Comment
Tsepiso Mpofu, the MDC-T’s provincial organising secretary, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly insulting Mugabe, joining 80 others

YET another Bulawayo resident is in trouble for undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe.

Tsepiso Mpofu, the MDC-T’s provincial organising secretary, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly insulting Mugabe, joining 80 others in the queue since the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act took effect a few years ago.

Last week there were high expectations from human rights campaigners and the opposition after the Constitutional Court (Concourt) deemed the law unconstitutional in two matters brought before it challenging the constitutionality of some offensive provisions of this piece of legislation.

In the first case of Tendai Danga, the Concourt struck the matter off the roll after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrew the charges preferred against the Bulawayo resident.

Danga faced charges of undermining the authority of or insulting Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) in a matter that commenced more than two years ago.

This prompted Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba to issue a stern warning to the NPA to review similar cases and to ensure that only deserving cases were brought to the Concourt.

He admonished the NPA against prosecuting matters in which statements were uttered in drinking halls and other social places, as the pursuit of such frivolous matters only served to bring disrespect on the Office of the President.

Prosecutors had claimed that Danga had questioned the integrity of the Zanu PF leader as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

In the other matter, the Concourt declared as unconstitutional Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) as they were in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe after another Bulawayo resident Owen Maseko petitioned it seeking an order to declare as unconstitutional laws infringing on artists’ rights to free expression and freedom of conscience, particularly freedom of thought as guaranteed in the Constitution.

The visual artist was arrested in March 2010 and charged with undermining the authority of the president for staging an exhibition depicting the 1980s Matabeleland genocide known as Gukurahundi carried out by a crack military unit on the instructions of the government.

But before the ink has even dried on the ruling, the same law has come back to haunt citizens as Mpofu could be charged under the same offensive legislation.

Taking a cue from the Concourt ruling, it is our submission that this law should be urgently withdrawn and a notice given to police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to instruct police to stop harassing citizens.