THE State has sought the authority of the ministry of Home
Affairs to travel to Twitter headquarters in Nothern Ireland and institute
extra territorial investigations into MDC secretary-general Chalton Hwende’s
tweet.
Hwende is facing subversion charges, but has disowned a
Twitter post that the prosecution is relying on to pin him to the allegations.
When he appeared in court on Friday represented by Tendai
Biti and Harrison Nkomo, prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti sought a postponement of
the case to enable their representative to get authority and travel.
Nkomo opposed the
application and moved for Hwende’s removal from remand, arguing the State was
not serious in having the matter prosecuted.
“This is a classic case of incompetence on the part of the
State considering that the accused person first appeared in court on March 6
last year and there were subsequent remands that followed for a period of one
year and 23 days,” Nkomo submitted.
Mugwagwa deferred the ruling to today. According to the
State, Hwende’s Twitter posts allegedly incited the public to overthrow the
constitutionally-elected government of Zimbabwe by engaging in mass protests
characterised by violence and hooliganism.
“We can’t continue on this trajectory of failure and
kwashiorkor of leadership. Enough is enough?
“In January, citizens must organise themselves for a
complete shutdown of the country. Stay at home, no one will shoot you,” read
one of the posts Hwende allegedly posted.
“We voted for @nelsonchamisa and we must be prepared like
the thousands of gallant liberation struggle heroes to die defending our right
to choose the president of our choice #2019ChamisamuOffice.”
The court heard between January 14 and 16 last year, in
response to the Twitter messages, members of the opposition, various trade unionists,
pressure groups, youth forums and the general public committed various acts of
public violence and hooliganism countrywide. Daily News
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