A 43-year-old Harare man was arrested recently on charges of insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The suspect, Dumisani Dangirwa, allegedly said Mnangagwa was a failure and will lose in elections expected later this year.
Dangirwa appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi on Thursday and was remanded in custody pending bail application.
Allegations were that on 07 April 2023, Dangirwa was at the corner of Bank Street and Cameroon Street when he insulted the President.
He was heard by the complainant, a police officer, shouting that Mnangagwa was failing to run the country.
Dangirwa allegedly went on to say Mnangagwa will lose the elections.
The court further heard that the complainant identified himself as a police officer and ordered the accused to stop insulting the President.
It is alleged that Dangirwa became violent and slapped the police officer.
Dangirwa allegedly continued pursuing the police officer saying: “wakajaidzwa munhu waMnangagwa (you are too spoiled you Mnangagwa supporter)” while shouting other obscenities.
Insulting the President
On Wednesday 30 October 2013 the Constitutional Court ruled on two constitutional matters brought before it challenging the constitutionality of some offensive provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
In one of the cases, a Bulawayo resident, Tendai Danga faced charges of undermining the authority of or insulting President Robert Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23.
The Constitutional Court struck off the matter from the court roll after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrew the charges preferred against Danga.
The NPA was quick to concede that the facts in the original matter did not disclose the offence of insulting the President.
This prompted the then Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba to issue a warning to the NPA to review similar cases and to ensure that only deserving cases were brought to the Constitutional Court.
Malaba said the NPA should desist from 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 to the Office of the President.
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