reputation. What makes the offence more untenable is the fact that private persons are rarely targeted for criticism. Public officials, who are expected to tolerate more scathing criticism, are the usual targets and practice has shown that such offences are created to protect them from accountability. One could conclude that while the legislation could be argued to be constitutional the problem in Zimbabwe is its deliberate misapplication used with impunity. 1.5.3 Public Order and Security Act [Chapter 11:17] This legislation (thereafter referred to as POSA) is not ordinarily relevant to artistic expression as it was adopted to implement the constitutional provisions on freedom of assembly and association. However, the State, represented by the police, has interpreted this legislation to ban artistic and theatrical presentations on account of the fact that people gather to participate in such exhibitions or presentations. The case in point is that of the politically charged satire The Good President, which tells the political history of Zimbabwe since independence (provoked serious debate for its portrayal of how Robert Mugabe has ruled the country since then). This was a product of a long-time collaboration between Zimbabwe’s best known playwrights, actors, and theatre directors Cont Mdladla Mhlanga and Daves Guzha. The play opened in the capital Harare with little incident. However, by the time the play reached the city of Bulawayo it had been banned by the Censorship Board. Heavily armed security agents attended the venue and interrupted proceedings on allegations that the play violated the POSA, and that it was a product of ‘political activists masquerade as artists’.40 Yet both political activists and artists have the right to freedom of expression in its wide interpretation. In the final analysis, POSA has become an integral part of the miscellany of legislation and policy framework that directly impacts on the exercise of freedom of artistic expression. Art Watch Africa Monitoring Freedom of Creative Expression, Arterial Network Report (2013), p 122. 40 29 | P a g e