Kitsepile Nyathi
1 June 2011
A Zimbabwean police officer accused of using a toilet reserved for President Robert Mugabe has been jailed for 10 years. The policeman identified as Sergeant Alois Mabhunu by a local radio station was tried and convicted by a police internal court on Tuesday.
He was arrested last month for using the toilet that had been specifically designated for the president during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) held in the second city of Bulawayo early May.
Allegations against Sgt Mabhunu were that on May 6 he was on duty at the ZITF where President Mugabe was a guest. He allegedly rushed to the toilet to answer the call of nature at a toilet reserved for the 87 year old leader. Some officers guarding the toilet tried to stop him but failed.
He was arrested the following day. As part of the sentence Sgt Mabbhunu was also demoted from his post as a homicide detective and transferred to a remote police post.
The privately owned Radio VOP on Wednesday reported that he had appealed to the police commissioner General Augustine Chihuri to overturn the sentence.
Zimbabwe has very strict security laws, which make it a serious offence to criticise President Mugabe.
Motorists have also been brutalised for failing to make way for the president’s usually long motorcade.
Meanwhile, police have vowed to avenge the death of a police officer during an alleged rally by a party led by the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the weekend.
More than two dozen activists from the Movement for Democratic Change party have been rounded up in the capital Harare in connection with the murder but none have been charged yet.
Inspector Petros Mutedza (42) was buried on Tuesday and in a speech read on his behalf by a senior officer, Gen Chihuri said those behind the murder will “die by the sword.”
AllAfrica – All the Time
Visit link:
Police Officer Jailed for Daring to Use Mugabe’s Loo