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This is pathetic. The email with photographs purporting to be of Mugabe's mansion have been circulating for years. Indeed, the photographs appear on a website for all to see. I spent some time explaining to people that the photographs are not of the Mugabe mansion, because they show an outside swimming pool and Google Earth show no such construction.
"A senior manager with Fresh-Pro has been arrested for allegedly circulating an e-mail 'insulting the person and office of the President'.
The e-mail allegedly also showed pictures of a mansion that John Norman Alfred Rusthon (65) claimed belonged to Mugabe without proof.
Rushton has since appeared in court charged with undermining the authority or insulting the President as defined in Section 33(2)-(a) (I) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
He was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Gloria Takundwa last week. She remanded him out of custody to March 12 this year on US$200 bail."
Not that long ago, I highlighted that a murder suspect was released on U$100 bail - and this man is bailed for twice that - for sending an email? Are we then to assume that the illegal killing of a person is not as serious as sending an email which might 'engender feelings of hostility towards Mugabe'?
If the truth be told, emails do nothing to add to the feelings of hostility towards Mugabe - he does that on his own!
"The e-mail allegedly contained photographs showing the interior and exterior of a mansion with the subject "Who lives in a house like this?" and purporting that the house belonged to Mugabe without verifying the authenticity of the photographs and message.
It is further alleged that Rushton forwarded the message to other employees at Fresh-Pro while indicating that whoever received that message had to e-mail it to everyone so that the whole world could know how Mugabe was living "like an American billionaire or Saudi Prince".
The State alleges that in doing this, Rushton had the knowledge or he realised that there was a possibility or real risk that the statement was false and that it could engender feelings of hostility towards Mugabe."
I have a question: How did the authorities know that this email had been sent? Was he 'dobbed' in by someone who received the email, or have the authorities got the ability now to access emails?
Why don’t the Zimbabwe Republic Police actually go after and catch the real criminals instead of picking on those that commit the 'crimes' which highlight Mugabe’s paranoia? How come they don’t get after those of the ZANU PF persuasion that killed farmers and their workers, or those that abducted, beat, maimed and killed the MDC members in the election ‘campaign’ of 2008?
Why don’t the ZRP look at charging the various powerful people within ZANU PF who have defied court orders, have ignored protocol and have made their own rules?
And this is all done whilst ZANU PF youth have threatened the office and person of the Prim Minister - is this not a similar crime of engendering feelings of hostility towards Mugabe?
I suppose not, because there just isn’t the space for half of ZANU PF to be imprisoned.
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
