The ManicaPost
. . . picture goes viral on social media
Weekender Reporter
A DANGAMVURA-based Dancehall DJ is on collision with the law after he posted a controversial picture of him donning a police cap on his Facebook account. The picture has since gone viral on social media networks.
Manicaland police spokesman, Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa, revealed this week that the police were keen to interrogate Alvin Mazani over the issue. Mazani — popularly known as the General — is the leading DJ of well-known music ensemble, Action Fyre.
He is likely to be charged with unlawful possession or wearing a police uniform as defined in Section 32 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23. Inspector Kakohwa said if police establish that the cap, which forms part of the police uniform, was abused, the law will take its course and appropriate action will taken.
He urged members of the public to desist from wearing police uniform.
“It’s a disturbing picture and the police will get to the bottom of what really happened. Only police officers are allowed to wear those uniforms and doing so if one is not a member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police constitute a crime which will be prosecutable. The case will be handled by a relevant arm of the police,” he said.
In July 2014, a Harare apostolic sect member who wore a police uniform and posted the picture on the Internet was hauled before the courts over the case. His gesture was an apparent mockery of the police following an incident in which members of a sect in Budiriro suburb had assaulted police officers and journalists.
Madzibaba Chacha was arrested for wearing a police uniform in 2014
The uniform had been left by a police officer for him to make some alterations.
After he wore the uniform, Madzibaba Chacha — a tailor in Westlea — allowed several people to take pictures of him with their mobile phones.
The pictures were then uploaded on social media and they went viral. At the beginning of this month, a Masvingo female cop’s domestic worker got into trouble with the law after she took several pictures of herself wearing her employer’s police uniform.
The photographs circulated on social media. The unidentified maid posed for photographs in full police attire believed to be of Constable Leah Daitai based at Masvingo Police Station.
Last year, the mischief of an 18-year-old Bulawayo maid landed her in trouble after she stole her boss’s police uniform and wore it to town, claiming she was on patrol. Mary Sibanda of Mzilikazi was arrested by a policeman when he questioned her upon meeting her in the central business district.
Sibanda appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate Mr Enias Magate and was charged with unlawful possession or wearing a police uniform as defined in Section 32 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
She pleaded guilty to the charges and told the magistrate that her mischief caused her to act that way.
“It’s a disturbing picture and the police will get to the bottom of what really happened.”
