1 HH 547-23 CA 480/19 PADDINGTON JAPAJAPA versus THE STATE HIGH COURT OF ZIMBABWE CHATUKUTA & KWENDA JJ HARARE, 15 June 2020, 16 June, 2020 & 9 October 2023 Criminal Appeal G Mutisi, for the appellant R Chikosha, for the respondent KWENDA J: Introduction The appellant was tried, convicted and sentenced in the Provincial Magistrates court at Harare for the crime of Incitement to commit Public Violence as defined in s 187(1) as read with s 36 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. He was sentenced to imprisonment for three years of which one year was suspended for five years on conditions of good behavior. The state allegations were as follows. On the 31 July 2018 the appellant was at the Harare International Conference Centre, (HICC) as an accredited local election observer representing the MDC Alliance political party awaiting the announcement of the results of the Zimbabwe harmonized elections by the National Elections Command Centre. Following the announcement of the results, the appellant was alleged to have protested the results in a tirade during which he was alleged to have uttered the words quoted below, forming the basis the charge which were considered inflammatory by the State. The State alleged that the appellant intended, by such communication, to incite public violence or knew that there was real risk that his target audience would, by such communication, be persuaded or induced to commit public violence. He was said to have uttered the following: -