Popular social media Twitter user Shadaya Tawona reports that he has been taken up by the police allegedly for retweeting a Twitter post from a page attributed to ZEC Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba.
As he recounted what really happened, Shadaya said he retweeted a ‘tweet’ from a parody account pretending to be Mrs. Chigumba.
The seriousness of the matter was highlighted by the fact that he was summoned by the police to report to their offices on charges of criminal assault to the ZEC Chairperson. Here is Shadaya’s account of the story;
Today I was called by the ZRP (CID department) to report to their offices on charges CRIMINAL INSULT. Apparently the charges were pressed by Mrs Priscilla Chigumba, according to the information I got from the police.
I spent the entire day at Morris Depot being interrogated with regards to this matter. The accusation is that I retweeted a tweet which sought to damage her personality. The tweet was from a parody account pretending to be Mrs Chigumba.
It’s alleged that my intention for retweeting was to not only tarnish her image but incite people. Fellow watch what you tweet or retweet, there are people who monitor these social media sites. You will unknowingly find yourself in trouble.
I was released on conditions that I’ll not leave the country & will have to report to the police at their request. The matter is said to go into court anytime, as I’m tweeting right now I don’t even know how long I’ll be a free man.
I’m not rich or powerful, I can’t afford lawyers, so basically the matter is out of my hands, all I can do is leave it up to God. But you’ve been warned, these social media streets ain’t safe anymore. Watch what you say.
I think I’m even going to be deactivating some of my social media accounts, I don’t feel safe anymore, I don’t know if the memes I put will be used against me by someone else. Watch yourself
While retweeting amounted to republication, a retweet does not do anything extra with respect to circulation as the original tweet is already available to the world.”