×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Facebook ‘coup plotter’ referred back to police

Politics
The docket of a Bulawayo man, Vikas Mavhudzi, who is facing a charge of posting a message on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Facebook wall allegedly encouraging him to topple President Robert Mugabe through mass protests, was last week taken back to the police for further investigations. The court ordered police to open Mavhudzi’s alleged offensive […]

The docket of a Bulawayo man, Vikas Mavhudzi, who is facing a charge of posting a message on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Facebook wall allegedly encouraging him to topple President Robert Mugabe through mass protests, was last week taken back to the police for further investigations.

The court ordered police to open Mavhudzi’s alleged offensive message before the trial could commence.

This followed Mavhudzi’s lawyer Lizwe Jamela’s insistence on the State to provide the court with the alleged Facebook message.

The State had for the past three weeks failed to open the message amid indications Mavhudzi’s account could have expired.

Jamela also notified the State that his client would not help them in any way to access the messages, arguing it would be tantamount to Mavhudzi incriminating himself.

Charges are on February 13 at about 2:10pm, Mavhudzi allegedly posted a message to Tsvangirai’s Facebook wall saying:

“I’m overwhelmed don’t know what to say Mr PM. What happened in Egypt is sending shock waves to all dictators around the world. No weapon, but unity of purpose. Worth emulating hey.”

On February 24, police received a tip-off from an unknown caller advising them Mavhudzi had sent a message to Tsvangirai which constituted a security threat through his cellphone.

Acting on that information, the police arrested Mavhudzi and allegedly found the alleged message in his cellphone.