Four people
have appeared in court in Zimbabwe on charges of undermining the authority of
President Robert Mugabe after his wife was heckled while addressing a
rally, a
state-owned newspaper reported Friday.
The Herald
said the four were arrested after attending a ruling ZANU-PF party rally in the
country’s southwestern city of Bulawayo where Grace Mugabe was jeered during a
speech on Saturday.
Prosecutor
Jerry Mutsindikwa told a magistrate court that “the quartet, with others
allegedly sang the song ‘into oyenzayo siyayizonda'” — whose lyrics in Ndebele
mean “we hate what you are doing” — while Grace addressed the rally.
They are
“facing a charge of undermining the authority of the president,” he said.
The incident
angered Mugabe who spoke at the same rally shortly after his wife, accusing his
deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa of organising and sponsoring the hecklers.
He vowed to
fire Mnangagwa, which he did two days later, in a dramatic move that appeared
to open the way for his wife Grace to succeed him in office.
Grace Mugabe
could be appointed as one of the country’s two vice presidents at the party
congress next month.
Mnangagwa
who had been touted as an obvious successor to Mugabe, fled into exile this
week. His whereabouts are unknown.
The arrest
of the four ZANU-PF activists came as the Zimbabwe high court Thursday granted
bail to Martha O’Donovan, a 25-year-old American journalist charged with
charged with insulting Mugabe and attempting to subvert the regime on account
of an alleged tweet that described the ageing leader as “selfish and sick”.
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