In the past two years, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have recorded 40 cases of citizens being arrested and prosecuted on charges of undermining or insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

As 2023 drew to a close, Zimbabwean citizens were alerted to the plight of a Bindura man who had spent nearly a month languishing in jail for allegedly insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Patrick Kingirasi, an unemployed resident of Bindura in Mashonaland Central province - considered a stronghold of Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF party - was arrested on 18 November 2023 and charged with undermining the authority or insulting the head of state and government as defined by Section 33(2)(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

Prosecutors alleged that Kingirasi undermined and insulted Mnangagwa on 2 October 2023 when he called one Edison Chibaya using his mobile phone and made utterances to the effect that members of the ruling Zanu-PF were thieves.

The prosecutors further charged that Kingirasi blamed Mnangagwa for causing suffering among Zimbabweans and for authoring the prevailing economic crisis.

He is alleged to have said: "Do not be thievery in ZANU PF way with your Mnangagwa, who is causing us to suffer."

The prosecutors deemed the alleged utterances unlawful, intentional and abusive. He was imprisoned after his arrest only to be released a few days before Christmas courtesy of the timely intervention of Zimbabwe Lawyers for...