According to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), authorities have summoned a 46 year-old woman to stand trial on charges of undermining the authority of or insulting the country’s ousted leader Robert Mugabe during his tenure as President.
Flora Karosi of Karoi, Mashonaland West province was summoned to stand trial at Karoi Magistrates Court on Tuesday 4 December 2018 to answer to charges of undermining the authority of or insulting the President as defined in section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
According to the summons, Karosi undermined and insulted Mugabe in July 2013 after she allegedly uttered an abusive, indecent and obscene statement concerning the former ZANU PF party leader’s advanced age.
Karosi is alleged to have stated the following words: “KaPresident kenyu kachembere kanoda kukwikwidzana nevana vadiki” which roughly translates to “Your little President is a geriatric who wants to compete with young children.”
The state charged that by so doing Karosi acted unlawfully and contravened the country’s laws.
However, her trial could not commence after his lawyer Kudzai Choga of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights challenged State prosecutors and argued that the charges preferred against Karosi were defective while the complainants were also inclined towards withdrawing the charges seeing that Mugabe is no longer the leader of the country.