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A Harare court has convicted Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere for publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state.
Her conviction comes on a day the CCC is conducting its selection process for candidates to represent the party in the upcoming harmonised elections. She now awaits sentencing and the offence has a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
This follows video footage she posted on social media claiming that a baby was killed by a policeman’s baton stick while strapped to its mother’s back.
Mahere was arrested for the offence in January 2021 and was eventually granted bail by Harare magistrate Trynos Utahwashe after seven days behind bars.
Award-winning journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono described the conviction as tragic.
“This is so tragic for the country to have someone convicted for a law that doesn’t exist!
I was arrested in January 2021 using the same facts in Fadzayi’s case, and the High Court threw out the case unopposed on the basis that the law doesn’t exist! Zimbabwe, oh my Zimbabwe!” he said on the microblogging site Twitter. Nhau/Indaba
