Zimbabwe’s privately owned NewsDay newspaper has said that a magistrate in Bulawayo has set a trial date for Vikas Mavhudzi, who faces a charge of posting offensive messages on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Facebook wall, for June 10. Mavhudzi became the first person to be arrested in Zimbabwe for a Facebook post.

NewsDay has reported that police received information from an anonymous caller on February 24 informing them of the incident which, according to the State, constituted a security threat.

The message was in reference to the uprisings that were happening in Egypt at the time and came at a sensitive time around that particular issue of rebellion in Zimbabwe.

Mavhudzi allegedly used his mobile phone to post the message on February 13. Internet access via mobile phones is one of the few ways resource-starved Southern Africans use to voice their opinions and access social networks and related forums.

They are both seen as exciting and new interactive tools for reaching and mobilising support as well as a threat to the state’s power in some cases.

Based on the information that they took to be threatening, police officers proceeded to arrest Mavhudzi. It was also reported that police then allegedly found the message in the outbox of his mobile phone.

The message is still visible on Tsvangirai’s wall because nobody has deleted it, and it’s odd that Obey, who posted a few days earlier than Mavhudzi, hasn’t been taken to task for using the words “Rise up.”

The offensive post…

Mavhudzi has since been released on $200 bail and has been ordered to remain within a prescribed 40km radius until the case concludes.

[Source: NewsDay]