What will get you in trouble under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill

Talking about military intervention? Don’t do it

If you go to a meeting where you know, or you have “reasonable grounds for believing”, that there will be talk about any military intervention in Zimbabwe or “overthrowing or overturning the constitutional government in Zimbabwe”, you will be charged. 

Ok, what if I didn’t know the meeting would talk about that?

Let’s say you walked into a meeting and didn’t know sanctions or military intervention would be talked about. If someone raises that in the meeting, and it’s proved that you then went ahead and “promoted, advanced, encouraged or advocated” for that, then you’re in trouble. It won’t be a defence that you didn’t know the agenda before the meeting. If it’s proved that you then went ahead and joined in, you will be arrested.

Say, for example, you meet donor agencies or diplomats at a meeting about the economy. Someone there asks you if sanctions or an army invasion would solve the crisis, and you say “yes” or even “maybe”, that may be a crime.  

What’s the punishment?
The punishment depends on what the meeting was about.

Did the meeting talk about armed intervention? You face treason. That’s a death sentence or life in prison. 

If your meeting was about overthrowing the government, that’s jail for up to 20 years. 

If it was about sanctions or a trade embargo on Zimbabwe, it’s a fine of (at the time of drafting) Z$200 000 or jail for 10 years, or both. 

What makes your offence worse?

There are “aggravating circumstances”. These are things that make your offence worse in court. If sanctions are actually implemented as a result of the meeting, or if a foreign government issues an advisory calling for sanctions, the court takes a harder view of your offence. 

If you’re a dual citizen, you can lose your Zimbabwe passport or residency. You may lose your right to vote or hold public office. 

If the meeting didn’t result in sanctions or armed intervention, you’re still in trouble if there’s proof that you lied in the meeting. In this case, aggravation comes if “the person made or submitted for consideration or endorsed any statement which he or she knew to be false or had no reasonable basis for believing to be true”. –NewZWire

(327 VIEWS)