from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – ZIMBABWE’S National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have halted the prosecution of some critics of President Emmerson Mnangagwa amid the infighting in the ruling party.
Infighting has bedeviled the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), piling pressure on Mnangagwa to quit.
NPA has stopped prosecuting Alfred Ngonidzaishe Machakaire, who resides in Gowo village under Chief Makoni in Inyati in Makoni District in the eastern Manicaland province.
He had spent 36 days in police cells and at Rusape Prison after he was arrested by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers, who charged him with “undermining authority of or insulting” Mnangagwa as defined in section 33(2)(a)(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
He was involved in a verbal altercation with Leonard Chidemo, the ZANU-PF local councilor during a scuffle over beer.
It had been alleged that during the altercation, Machakaire praised the outspoken veteran, Blessed Geza, and labeled Mnangagwa “a vagina” and ZANU-PF as having “caused the death of people in the country.”
Geza is a veteran of the liberation war and a ZANU-PF central committee member, who was recently expelled from the party after opposing manoeuvres to amend the Constitution and extend Mnangagwa’s illegal tenure beyond two terms.
Machakaire is the latest person to be set free after the NPA recently ceased prosecution of Ishmael Maukazuva, a councillor in Mashonaland East province.
He had been in detention after he was arrested by ZRP officers and charged with “undermining authority of or insulting” Mnangagwa.
– CAJ News