Kezi Man Jailed For " I Hate Mugabe " Remarks
Gwanda Magistrate Douglas Zvenyika found Pilate Tshuma guilty for contravening a Section of the criminal Law Codification Act which relates to undermining or insulting the head of state.The magistrate did not give him an option of a fine and sentenced him to three months in prison.
According to the state outline,on June 4 this year,Tshuma was at Mudluli Bottle Store in Kezi drinking beer with colleagues unaware of the presence of plain clothes police officers at the same bar.
On the day the offence was committed, Tshuma was wearing a Zanu(PF) party T- shirt without Mugabe,s potrait.Police officers overheard him uttering the words in Ndebele ” ngakhipha isithombe sika Mugabe ngoba ngiyamzonda ” which means “I removed Mugabe,s picture because I hate him.”
He was then arrested by the two police officers who took him to a police station.
Tshuma’s conviction comes less than two months after another man from Chipinge in Manicaland was jailed for 12 months for insulting President Mugabe.The man Gift Mufuka was convicted by Chipinge Magistrate Samuel Zuze under the same Act.
Early this month a Bulawayo man Gareth Fury who is a company director appeared in court for saying President Robert Mugabe “should go to hell” after he had clashed with his co-company director Nkululeko Tshuma, a known ZANU(PF) activist.