via Malaba reprimands State | The Herald October 31, 2013
DEPUTY Chief Justice Luke Malaba yesterday reprimanded the State for arbitrarily arresting people who make disparaging remarks about the President in their drunken stupor.
He said by prosecuting people who make remarks in those circumstances, the State was actually contributing towards bringing the name of the President into disrepute.
Deputy Chief Justice Malaba said this yesterday during a Constitutional Court hearing in which Tendai Danga was challenging the constitutionality of Section 33 of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act after he was accused of insulting the office of the President.
The section deals with issues undermining the authority of or insulting the President.
It emerged that the said remarks that formed the basis of the charge were made during a beer drink.
“I think it is important that the name of the President is not just dragged here to the court unnecessarily. The Attorney General should be careful not to allow prosecution when a person says something in a bar, where people are just making statements while drunk,” said Deputy Chief Justice Malaba.
He said it was important for the Attorney General to discern the case before bringing people to courts.
Justice Malaba said the State risked soiling the name of the President by arbitrarily arresting people even if those statements are made during beerhall discussions.
The Constitutional Court went on to strike the case off the roll, saying the facts that formed its basis did not disclose a criminal offence.
Law officer, Mr Justin Uladi from the Attorney General’s Office conceded that the words complained of did not constitute an offence.
Representing Danga, who was charged under Criminal Codification, Advocate Zvikomborero Chadambuka had submitted that the charges were not sustainable.
It was the State’s case that Danda was drinking beer at Northend shopping centre in Bulawayo in 2011 when he made abusive, indecent or obscene words about or concerning the Head of State knowing them to be false.
Other judges who heard the case were Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Justices Bharat Patel, Paddington Garwe, Antonia Guvava, Anna-Mary Gowora, Ben Hlatshwayo, Elizabeth Gwaunza and Vernanda Ziyambi.
COMMENTS
COME ON CLANSMAN, TELL THEM! YOU SHOUD HAVE THE CJ! BUT THEN YOU NOT ENGLISH!YOU HAIL FROM “THE FEW AND THE PROUD”! ITS NOT THE QUANTITY BUT THE QUALITY THAT MATTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is rank…! In most jurisdictions, being drunk is a crime that will find you before a magistrate, and then remanded to the drunk tank… but in Zimbabwe, being intoxicated can keep ya outta jail..! Delicious.
Actually, the international decorum is that heads of state should be respected… whether they deserve it or not. However, Mugabe expects to be treated as royalty, a demigod, when he clearly is not. He sees himself as being above everyone else. Some sort of deficiency in his upbringing, I suppose. Maybe because he has a small body and a big head. Any of that can create developmental and emotional issues. Anyway, he can very publicly express vitriol and call other heads of state ugly names, but in Zim it is illegal to disrespect him.
But, Mugabe is in a class of despots where, rather acting like a head of state, he acts more like an entitled goat who is unaccountable to law. For him, laws apply to all except those he excuses. A good portion of the laws and articles of the constitution are there at his behest, and merely “govern” how and who can steal.
By fiat, the office of President must be respected, but the man who hold the office must respect it and serve that office with the dignity and integrity expected of it. Mugabe has not done that, so who can respect such a man.
I have heard that mass hysteria is a contagious condition. Its starts with 1 individual who becomes mentally unstable then it spreads across the whole.