National University of Science and Technology (NUST) student Tanaka Ryan Ziso is out of jail after being arrested for posting an 0ffensive tribal tweet.
The 24-year-old Civil and Water Engineering final-year student turned social media on its head after posting an inflaming tweet last month.
Days earlier, a bevvy of Harare nurses went to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to welcome Passion Java. This was to express gratitude for his ambulance donation to Chitungwiza General Hospital.
Some Bulawayo people commented, aiming at the Shona people at the airport and disowning them. Seemingly bothered, Tanaka quipped:
“The way MaNdevere claim they’re not Zimbabweans is top tier man😂, woenda kuSouth Africa vokuramba, wopiswa ikoko futi. I wish I could live with those kinds of brains, no real thinking, no straining your brains. Just an idiot saying Vele 25 times a day. Freestyle kinda life😭”
The tweet evoked agitated fits of enraged fury online. Netizens, mostly from Bulawayo and Matabeleland, reprimanded him for throwing salvos at a single tribe.
Some even threatened Tanaka, inviting him for a drink since he was in Bulawayo. Someone then reported him to the police, leading to his arrest for causing offence to persons of a particular race.
Tanaka made his first court appearance on 28 March 2024 and was remanded in custody until 2 April.
On his second appearance, the Bulawayo magistrate granted the wayward student US$50 bail and set him free. However, after the bail payment, the clerk of court did not grant him a warrant of liberty, forcing him to spend another night inside.
His friend complained yesterday on X:
“Tanaka was granted release on bail by the magistrate which was paid in due time. But mysteriously the clerk of court could not deliver the warrant of liberty since 10am, all other bailed inmates had their warrants delivered to the prisons officers which means another night in cells. This is a deliberate human rights violation to his right of liberty.”
“Followed up on Tanaka’s bail issue. The person responsible for processing the release warrant said Tanaka’s file was specifically requested ‘kuoffice kwaboss’ no explanation kuti vairidii, causing unlawful imprisonment. Anyways, he’s now home. Takaenda kuhwahwa 🍻”
Source iHarare
