ZVISHAVANE: A court here has fined a man for donning camouflage clothing.
Brighton Manguwo, 28, was on Tuesday morning arrested by police officers while walking to the shops in the mining town’s high density suburb of Makwasha.
The state, represented by Monica Mungwena, said Manguwo was arrested for wearing a pair of camouflage shorts in public.
In his defence, Manguwo told the court that he was ignorant of the law barring the wearing of replica camouflage clothing as he had been out of the country for close to a decade.
The magistrate, Archie Wochiunga, slapped him with a $50 fine failure to which he will spend a week in prison. The pair of shorts was confiscated by the state.
Over the Christmas holiday there was an influx of locals and visiting Zimbabweans based outside the country who were spotted in public dressed in camouflage clothing.
This prompted the army and police officials to issue stern warnings that those found wearing camouflage clothing or military gear would be arrested.
True to their statement, the warning was followed by a crackdown on those failing to heed the warning. Several people were arrested across the country.
The Defence Act (Chapter 11:02) prohibits the wearing of camouflage by civilians.
