After spending 24 days in a Zimbabwean jail, a Ugandan tourist is set to be deported following his acquittal on charges related to the possession of a sex toy.
According to nation.africa, the incident, which drew significant attention, has led to the decision to remove the tourist from the southern African country despite his acquittal.
Tom Ssekamwa,24, was on August 2 arrested outside a lodge in Masvingo, a city that is 292 kilometres south of the capital Harare, alongside Czech tourist Lucas Slavik.
The duo was arrested at the height of a government clampdown against dissent ahead of a regional summit that saw over 200 opposition and civil society activists being detained for allegedly plotting to disrupt the event.
Mr Ssekamwa was acquitted of charges of being a criminal nuisance by magistrate Isaac Chikura this week.
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He was also cleared of charges of violating the Censorship Act for being found with a rubber male organ in his bag.
Prosecutors had said the Ugandan was found with the sex toy in his bag when he was searched by the police.
In quashing both charges, the magistrate ruled that Mr Ssekamwa’s possession of the sex toy did not compromise the public or cause any nuisance.
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Mr Chikura said he considered that the sex toy was found in the tourist’s bag and that he did not have any intention of displaying it in public.
The Ugandan’s lawyer, Knowledge Mabvuure, of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said his client was in the custody of the immigration department awaiting deportation.
“The challenge we have at the moment is that he needs to buy his air ticket to leave the country, and his phone through which he can access his funds is still being held by the police,” Advocate Mabvuure said.
“We are engaging the police to expedite the process.”
Mr Ssekamwa’s colleague, Mr Slavik, was charged with publishing false statements to incite the public.
Prosecutors said he recorded a statement in a video in which he said that there was no water and electricity in Masvingo.
The prosecution dropped another charge against Mr Slavik in which he was accused of being a criminal nuisance. He was subsequently acquitted and deported last week.
Most cities in Zimbabwe go for over 18 hours without electricity due to reduced power generation because of a drought that resulted in low inflows into the country’s main source of hydropower – Kariba Dam.
Roseline Hanzi from the ZLHR, who gave the tourists free legal services, said the arrests will taint Zimbabwe’s image.
“A rather unfortunate incident that can have far-reaching implications on the ranking of Zimbabwe as a safe tourism destination,” Ms Hanzi said.
“Whilst the Czech Republic can explore international law rules, as they must protect their nationals under international law, this could have been avoided.
“States have sometimes taken each other to the International Court of Justice when they feel that the rights of their citizens have been violated.”
Over 200 opposition supporters and civil society activists were arrested ahead of the 44th Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Harare for alleged crimes dating as far back as 2019.
The government said it had intelligence that the activists were planning to stage protests to disrupt the summit.
Christopher Mutsvangwa, the spokesperson of the ruling Zanu PF, told journalists recently that the 100 activists who remain in jail can now be released since visitors who had come to Zimbabwe for the summit had since left.
“Those are deviants and they were dealt with properly. And we are very happy they failed (to stage protests). And they will never succeed,” Mr Mutsvangwa said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who rose to power after a 2017 military coup that toppled strongman Robert Mugabe, is being accused by his critics of being more authoritarian than his predecessor.
