/ 31 March 2001

MAN IN COURT OVER MUGABE?S MANHOOD REMARK

A 23-year-old man’s alleged remarks about Zimbabwean Robert Mugabe’s genitals have landed him in court. According to court records George Potgieter, a manager at a Harare engineering company, appeared on allegations that he had berated his workers and told them they ”had no brains because they were being led by a president who had a rubber penis made in China”. His workers immediately apprehended him and marched him to the nearest police station to report his remarks and he was arrested, the independent Daily News newspaper reported on Friday. Potgieter is being charged under a section of the Law and Order Maintenance Act that makes it an offence to expose the president to ”hatred, contempt or ridicule”. Magistrate Caroline Chigumira granted Potgieter ZD$5_000 bail and ordered him to appear again on April 10.