Homicide detective Alois Mabhunu of Zimbabwe has spent the past two weeks in jail for using the private toilet of dictator Robert Mugabe at an international trade expo.

 

Mabhunu was on surveillance duty at the trade fair when he found himself urgently in need of a bathroom. Spotting the presidential loo, Mabhunu pushed his way past Mugabe’s men guarding it and relieved himself.

 

The guards reported the incident to the president’s personal security agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation, which had the detective arrested the next day even though no law exists that says using Mugabe’s toilet is a crime.

 

A police spokesman refused comment on the incident, saying it was an “internal matter.”

 

Among the many repressive laws enforced by Mugabe is one that makes it a crime for any citizen to make an “abusive, indecent or obscene statement” about Mugabe even if the speaker is not in Zimbabwe. In a representative case from about six years ago, a Zimbabwean named Arnold Bunya told his brother, while the two were riding a bus, “Do not be thickheaded like Mugabe.” Overheard by a government security agent, Bunya was sentenced to two weeks in jail. 

 

Another Zimbabwean, Vikas Mavhudzi, is currently awaiting trial because he posted a message on Facebook that said, “What happened in Egypt is sending shockwaves to all dictators around the world. No weapon but unity of purpose. Worth emulating, hey.”

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Cop in Hot Water over Mugabe Toilet (by Sapa, New Zimbabwe)

In Jail: Zimbabwe Police Sergeant Who Dared to Use Robert Mugabe's Loo (by David Smith, The Guardian)