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Prosper Dembedza-Herald Correspondent

TRANSFORM Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume has been sentenced to three years in jail for inciting public violence arising from Twitter messages where he called for people to engage in public violence or join an illegal demonstration in July 2020.

Harare Magistrate Mrs Feresi Chakanyuka found Ngarivhume had made the Twitter posts, and the content met the criteria required by the charge. 

Ngarivhume had initially on arrest agreed he had posted the tweets, but said his posts were protected by the Constitutional right of free speech. 

Later in court, he had argued that the Twitter handle had never belonged to him.

In her ruling, Mrs Chakanyuka said the State led by Mr Tafara Chirambira managed to prove the case against Ngarivhume. 

The sentence came after a long struggle by Ngarivhume’s lawyer, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, who sought a postponement since his client wanted to make an application for referral to the Constitutional Court.

The State proved that Ngarivhume, through his actions, wanted or meant to incite the public to act in a disastrous and violent manner, said the magistrate. She ruled that only an effective prison term would send a strong message to likely offenders that violence was frowned upon. 

Mrs Chakanyuka was guided by the criminal laws of the country as to the sentence because once convicted of inciting members of the public to commit a crime, the accused had to be sentenced in accordance with the law. 

The State told the court that while in Harare’s city centre, Ngarivhume posted numerous messages on Twitter in an attempt to influence many people to engage in public violence or participate in a gathering that would disturb peace.

In some of the messages, Ngarivhume said he had met and consulted other stakeholders including Mr Ian Makone, Dr Shingi Munyeza, Mr Elton Mangoma and Godfrey Tsenengamu, as part of his efforts to mobilise people.