Gukurahundi artist Maseko kept guessing by ConCourt

The Gukurahundi Bulawayo based artist Owen Maseko's fate hangs in the balance after Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku today reserved ruling on his case of undermining President Robert Mugabe.

Maseko is accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.
He was in court in Harare early Wednesday.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) who are representing Maseko have since issued a statement on today's proceedings.
Below is the statement in full:
THE State represented by Chris Mutangadura of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Wednesday 15 January 2014 conceded that the alleged facts outlined in the case in which visual artist Owen Maseko and former Makoni South legislator Pishai Muchauraya are challenging charges of undermining authority of or insulting President Robert Mugabe cannot sustain the charge preferred against them.
Mutangadaura made the concession before the Full Bench of the Constitutional Court during a hearing in which Maseko and Muchauraya were challenging insult laws used to arrest them about four years.
In making the concession, Mutangadura admitted that the facts as alleged by State prosecutors do not reveal that the duo committed an offence.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku reserved ruling on the matters and advised that the ConCourt will hand down a written order.
The ConCourt stated that it would be academic for it to adjudicate whether Sections 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act do violate the old Constitution since Mutangadura had conceded that the duo had not committed an offence when they were arrested and charged with insulting President Mugabe.
Maseko's case has been running since 2010 and appeared for conclusion in October last year when the Constitutional Court ruled in Maseko's favour.

The Constitutional Court then asked Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to show cause why the laws should not be struck off the country's statute books.
Hon. Mnangagwa chose to defend the laws and filed an affidavit arguing that the statutes were necessary.
In October 2013, the Constitutional Court declared as unconstitutional Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) as they were in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe. In a unanimous decision in the matter of Owen Maseko v the Attorney General, SC60/11, the Constitutional Court granted a consent order stating that the State represented by Mutangadura of the NPA had not shown that Sections 31 (a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) are not in contravention of Sections 20 (1), 19 (1) and 18 (1) of the former constitution.
Maseko, who was represented by Advocate Zvikomborero Chadambuka instructed by Tawanda Zhuwarara and Jeremiah Bamu of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking an order to declare as unconstitutional laws infringing on artists' rights to free expression and freedom of conscience, particularly freedom of thought as guaranteed in the Constitution.

This was after the visual artist was arrested in March 2010 and charged for staging an exhibition in Bulawayo depicting the 1980s Matabeleland massacres known as Gukurahundi carried out by a crack military unit on the instructions of the government.
Maseko was accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the President and causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.
His exhibition, which showcases paintings that explored the torture and massacres that characterised the civil unrest of the early 1980s in Midlands and Matabeleland provinces, was forcibly shut down.
The insult laws have been routinely used to arrest and detain dozens of people for allegedly insulting and undermining the authority of President Mugabe.
More than 80 similar cases are pending before the Constitutional Court and other subsidiary courts of the land.
Human rights lawyers have said there has been a dramatic increase in the arbitrary application of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) since 2010.
But in his affidavit to the Constitutional Court defending the insult laws, Hon. Mnangagwa argued that such laws are justifiable in a democratic society.