The run-off election in which Mugabe was sole candidate after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out because of political violence was roundly denounced by the United Nations Security Council, African and Western nations as undemocratic.
Lincoln Bongani Mathe, 22, a student at Bulawayo Polytechnic college was arrested on June 27, the day of the vote, when instead of marking the ballot paper against the name or symbol of the candidate of his choice he wrote on the paper the words: Mugabe, he is evil.
Mathe who appeared at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court yesterday allegedly wrote that Mugabe who ignored African and international calls to postpone the ballot was an evil person who would one day have to face the wrath of God.
Mugabe defied international and regional calls to postpone the run-off poll after Tsvangirai withdrew from the race saying widespread political violence against his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party supporters made a free and fair vote impossible.
Urban voters shunned the polls, heeding calls by the MDC to boycott the run-off election that recorded a high number of spoilt papers amid reports that many of the ballots carried insulting remarks against Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said the number of spoilt papers increased from 39 975 recorded in the March election to 131 481 in the run-off poll with the Pan-African Parliament observer mission saying most spoilt papers had unpalatable messages.
According to the state’s case, Mathe while in the voting booth at a polling station in Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park high density suburb wrote on his ballot paper: Mugabe you have stolen the election, you are an evil person. You will face the wrath of God.
Mathe, using his camera phone, allegedly photographed himself writing the insulting comments against Mugabe. However, the clicking sound and flashing light of the camera alerted polling officers who promptly reported Mathe to the police.
He was charged with violating the Electoral Act that governs conduct and activities within the vicinity of a polling station.
The Bulawayo student, who was remanded out of custody to 15 July, also faces charges of contravening a government statute that prohibits Zimbabweans from making statements and gestures that undermine or insult Mugabe.
Many Zimbabweans have in the past been arrested for passing insulting comments against Mugabe, the only leader they have known since independence from Britain 28 years ago.
Many Zimbabweans accuse Mugabe of plunging the once prosperous country into a recession that the World Bank says is the worst in the world outside a war zone and is seen in the world’s highest inflation rate estimated at more than 2 000 000 percent, severe shortages of food and every basic survival commodity. – ZimOnline
Post published in: News