Couple charged over explicit WhatsApp image

A photo-shopped explicit image of Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa shared on WhatsApp has landed a couple in trouble. Sarudzayi Jan and Remember Ncube have been arrested and charged with undermining the authority of or insulting the President in contravention of the Criminal Law Act. A TimesLIVE report notes that they also face a charge of contravening the Censorship and Entertainments Act, which criminalises the production and publishing of certain material. Police claimed that they made an abusive, indecent or obscene statement about Mnangagwa that may engender feelings of hostility towards him, with the knowledge that the statement is false. Takavingei Mahachi, the councillor for Ward 3 in Beitbridge, who created the residents’ WhatsApp group, will testify as a state witness when the trial begins on 3 July.