A Zimbabwean man has appeared in court for joking in a bar about whether President Robert Mugabe was strong enough to blow up the balloons for his 88th birthday party last week, his lawyer said.

Richmore Chazi was arrested while drinking with friends in a bar in Mutare while watching the live coverage of Mugabe's birthday rally held in the eastern city on Saturday.

"Chazi is being charged for insulting and undermining the authority of the president and will come back to court on March 12 for routine remand," his lawyer Blessing Nyamaropa told AFP.

He has been released on $20 bail when he appeared in court on Monday.

Zimbabwe police regularly arrest people who joke about Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980.

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