ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has secured freedom for a vendor, who had been languishing in prison for more than two months after he was arrested by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers and charged with criminal nuisance following a verbal altercation over the filthy state of toilets in Mbare and for allegedly insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Anashe Mundandi, a 29 year-old vendor, was arrested by ZRP officers on 1 December 2025 at Mbare bus terminus in Harare and was charged with criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act as read with paragraph 2(v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
In court, prosecutors alleged that Mundandi acted unlawfully in a manner which is likely to interfere with ordinary comfort, convenience, peace or quiet of the public by shouting at Ody Chikombo, an employee of City of Harare, who was cleaning a public toilet, telling him that he was not performing his duties to standard and that there were other people who could execute the task better than him.
Mundandi, prosecutors charged, allegedly insulted President Mnangagwa during an argument with Chikombo, when he told him that the ZANU PF leader is an insignificant person.
This resulted in Mundandi being arraigned before Magistrate Dennis Mangosi at Harare Magistrates Court, where he was denied bail on 10 December 2025 after his lawyer Tapiwa Muchineripi of ZLHR applied for his release from custody.
The Harare vendor then spent 57 days in both police and prison custody and was only set free on 27 January 2026, when he was granted $100 bail by High Court Judge Justice Gibson Mandazi, who upheld Mundandi’s appeal and set aside Magistrate Mangosi’s decision in which he had denied him bail.
Justice Mandaza also ordered Mundandi to report once per week on Fridays at a local police station and to continue residing at his given residential address including not interfering with state witnesses or investigations until his case gets finalised.
Meanwhile, Mundandi’s trial on criminal nuisance charges commenced on 23 January 2026 at Harare Magistrates Court, where prosecutors led evidence from two state witnesses. The Harare vendor returns to court on 26 February 2026, where a Magistrate will hand down his ruling on Mundandi’s application for discharge at the close of the prosecution case.
The arrest and detention of Mundandi comes at a time when Prosecutor-General Loice Matanda-Moyo has reportedly bemoaned overcrowding in Zimbabwe’s prisons and proposed that prosecutors should exercise restraint in their attitude towards opposing bail applications in some cases.
ENDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
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