Mutumanje withdraws Concourt application
FORMER Zanu-PF activist William Mutumanje, also known as Acie Lumumba, who is accused of insulting President Mugabe yesterday withdrew his constitutional application after the prosecution advised the court that it was withdrawing charges.
Mutumanje, who allegedly used the F-word to insult President Mugabe, had brought his application to the Constitutional Court, arguing that his utterances did not constitute an offence.
He also argued that his constitutional rights as enshrined in the Constitution were being infringed.
At the hearing yesterday before a full bench of the Concourt, Mutumanje’s lawyer Advocate Zvikomborero Chadambuka instructed by Mr David Hofisi, advised the court that his client was no longer pursuing the matter.
He indicated that the State had agreed to withdraw the criminal charges against his client, which gave rise to the application.
Law officer Mr Edmore Nyazamba from the Prosecutor-General’s Office confirmed the development to the court, saying the State intended to withdraw the charges.
This comes in the wake of a previous Constitutional Court ruling in a case in which MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora likened President Mugabe to a goblin.
The court ruled that the utterances did not constitute an offence.
Mwonzora was said to have insulted the President during a rally held in Nyanga in 2009.
Mutumanje will be back at the magistrate’s court on June 12 when the State is expected to withdraw charges against him.
He is being charged with undermining the authority of, or insulting the President as defined in Section 33 (2) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
It is the State’s case that on June 30, last year, Mutumanje, who was addressing people during the launch of his political party, said: “Mr President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, f*** you.
“I am drawing the red line, our kids are in trouble, so it is a red line I know and my name is Lumumba, Lumumba Lumumba . . . ”