The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) had cleared Douglas Mwonzora of any offence for calling President Mugabe a goblin. Mwonzora who is also the MDC-T secretary general uttered the words at a 2009 rally. He was subsequently arrested and charged with undermining the Office of the President by calling President Mugabe a goblin. Mwonzora, however, challenged the charges laid against him at the ConCourt.
The ConCourt ruled that Mwonzora had not committed any offence and that the State did not fully understand what constitutted the offence.
In the ruling Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba said:
The finding by the court is that if the facts alleged in the outline of the case for the prosecution were proved at the trial of the applicant they would not have constituted an offence.
…The statement that the President was a goblin was obviously a false statement. The offence is, however, not committed because a person has uttered at a public place a false statement about or concerning the President. The statement must be accompanied at the time of its utterance by the knowledge of its falsity and an intention to use it to engender feelings of hostility in the audience against the President. That is not even enough for the offence to be committed. The State must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the false statement about or concerning the President was capable of deceiving the hearer into believing it is true and that it was likely to arouse in the audience feelings of hostility towards the President or his office.
More: Financial Gazette
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