14 year old arrested for calling Mugabe senile and sterile

By Violet Gonda
4 July 2006

A 14 year old boy from Chitsungwe village in Manicaland province has become the latest person to be arrested for allegedly insulting Robert Mugabe. It’s reported that Wellington Mugashi was arrested Sunday in Buhera North after he performed at an opposition provincial rally and said the 82 year old leader was destroying the future of the next generation because he doesn’t know the experience of being a father as he is sterile.

Pishai Muchauraya the provincial spokesperson for the Tsvangirai MDC in Manicaland province said 4 000 party supporters had gathered for the provincial rally at Gaza Business Centre on Sunday afternoon. A group of youths entertained the gathering before it started by reciting poems, performing skits and dramas. One of those kids was Wellington Mugashi who reportedly wowed crowds with his sloganeering, “Mugabe haana mwana. Mugabe ingomwa, arikuto renda vana vaPeter Pamire.”

A rough translation; “Mugabe is impotent. He can’t have children and that is why he is renting the late Peter Pamire’s children.”

Peter Pamire a prominent businessman who died after a suspicious accident in 1996, was rumoured to have had a relationship with Mugabe’s young wife Grace.

The 14 year old was immediately arrested after the rally and is detained at Dorowa police post. Muchauraya said by Tuesday he had not appeared in court and had not been charged. The police say Mugashi had committed a crime by insulting the president. Several people have been arrested for this under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

One of the victims of this law was a Harare man Arnold Bunya, who was arrested two years ago after he was overheard by a state agent calling Mugabe ''thick headed.'' He had had a fight with his brother on a bus and was heard telling him, ''Do not be thick headed like Mugabe.''

Others who have been arrested for denigrating the President include MDC MP Timothy Mubhawu who was arrested in Harare, this year. He allegedly gave a lift to a group of soldiers in March and asked them why "do you let Mugabe let you suffer?" One of the soldiers reported the alleged statement to the police and Mubhawu was taken into custody.