John Mahlabera was dismissed by the Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services (ZPCS) after a disciplinary hearing convicted him for using “traitorous or disloyal” words towards President Emerson Mnangagwa.
Mahlabera was accused of tweeting in favour of then MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa on April 9. He was also charged for undermining President Mnangagwa and attending an MDC Alliance rally held in Tshovani Stadium, Chiredzi on June 10, 2018. Mahlabera was found guilty for contravening Section 3(1) of the Prisons (staff) (discipline) Regulations of 1984, using “traitorous” or “disloyal” words against Mnangagwa. Part of the charge sheet reads:
He wrote the following words on his Twitter account ‘Come to Chiredzi my President’ thus showing loyalty to the opposition party president, thereby exhibiting disloyalty and disgraceful conduct to the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
On the second count, Mahlabera was also found guilty for contravening Section 3(46) of Prisons (Staff) (Disciplinary) Regulations 1984 after he attended Chamisa’s rally which was held in Chiredzi. Mahlabera’s lawyer Advocate Collin Maboke of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said he will appeal against the prison officer’s conviction at the High Court.
More: NewZimbabwe.com
Isn’t there freedom of association in this country? Are civil servants the property of government to be decided for on which political party to support?
Same people, same race, same nation; all equal before the law, ultimately same God….everyone now not only in Zimbabwe even courts of law have first and foremost an obligation to forgive and forget otherwise everybody will end up in jail…..the world has challenges we need to respond to without losing much. Presiding officers must quickly qualify the differences between lunacy, literacy and illiteracy ; wafling and so forth…but above all mentor, forgive. live and let live.