Court throws out Mugabe’s 10-year-old insult case

AN attempt last week by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to resuscitate a 2010 case where Gilbert Kagodora, the MDC Alliance secretary for information communication technology was accused of insulting the late former President Robert Mugabe was thrown out by a Bindura magistrate on the grounds that it had been struck off the roll.

NPA officials in Bindura had summoned Kagodora to appear in court on November 2, to stand trial over the matter involving undermining the authority of, or insulting the late Mugabe 10 years ago.

In January 2015, the Prosecutor-General’s Office withdrew the charges against him after his lawyer Jeremiah Bamu of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) challenged his prosecution for lack of merit.

“The withdrawal of the charges by the NPA led the late former Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku to remove Kagodora’s matter off the Constitutional Court roll,” read a statement by the ZLHR yesterday.

“On November 2, 2020, prosecutors from the NPA based at Bindura Magistrates Court aborted prosecuting Kagodora after Bamu challenged and reminded them that the matter had been struck off the ConCourt roll by Chidyausiku in 2015 and dared them to approach the apex court if they intended to revive the matter,” the rights lawyers said.

The ZLHR said the prosecutors then advised Kagodora and Bamu that they would liaise with the NPA officials in Harare to advise the duo about how they would proceed with the matter.

Kagodora had been arrested in Chiweshe on allegations of undermining the authority of, or insulting the President as defined in section 33 (2)(a)(i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

Police officers alleged that Kagodora denounced the late Mugabe while chanting his party slogan.