HARARE - A man who was pictured wearing a Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) official uniform was yesterday fined $100 after the courts found him guilty of criminal nuisance.
Robert Boyiboyi, 36, of 5062-113 Street, Warren Park D, pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before Harare magistrate Ndaba Tsatsawani.
Tsatsawani sentenced Boyiboyi, also called Madzibaba Chacha, to three months imprisonment, which was wholly suspended on condition that he pays the $100 fine.
Boyiboyi is self-employed as a barber at Beauty World Salon, at Westlea shopping centre in Harare.
Boyiboyi’s picture went viral after he posted it on social media in the wake of an incident where police officers and journalists were assaulted by members of Madzibaba Ishamea Mufani’s apostolic sect.
Seven anti-riot police officers, journalists and members of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) were seriously injured when the Johanne Masowe eChishanu apostolic sect members attacked them with shepherd’s crooks, sticks and stones.
This was after ACCZ president Archbishop Johannes Ndanga announced a ban on the sect because it violated national and Christian laws.
The picture circulated under headings that mocked police
officers, the State said.
It is the State case that sometime between March and June this year, a customer brought a ZRP grey shirt for alteration at the salon Boyiboyi worked at.
Boyiboyi wore the shirt and asked Progress Tirivangasi to photograph him.
The picture was posted on various social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp on June 3.
The Facebook picture was headlined “If you can beat them, join them too”, while another picture on the same social network claimed that he was Mufani.
Boyiboyi was apprehended in connection with the picture, culminating in his appearance in court.