Zimbabwe: Police question journalists

Feluna Nleya and Jennifer Dube reporters with the privately owned Standard weekly were on 31 April 2010 questioned by police from the Law and Order Section for exposing an alleged massive land scandal involving the Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo and businessperson Philip Chiyangwa.

 

Detective Inspector Muchada and another officer only named as Kutiwa visited the Standard offices where they also spoke to its editor Nevanji Madanhire and Zimind Publishers group editor-in-chief Vincent Kahiya. This followed publication of the story in the weekly’s edition of 28 March to 3 April 2010 which revealed that a special Harare council committee investigating the allocation of land had recommended that Chiyangwa should be arrested for alleged corruption.

 

The story was based on a 54-page report titled: Special Investigations Committees report on City of Harare’s Land Sales, Leases and Exchanges from the period October 2004  to December 2009. Nleya and Dube were asked to reveal their sources during the questioning which lasted about an hour.

 

MISA-Zimbabwe’s National Director Nhlanhla Ngwenga condemned these acts as a betrayal of the government’s sincerity in instituting media reforms as well as  commitment to promote and protect media freedom. “It vindicates our position that the only way out is an overhaul of the media legislation.”

 

The Co-ordinator of the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) Andrew Moyse also said given the fact that the reports were based on a legal council investigation, there was no basis for harassing the journalists.

 

Background

 

On 30 March 2010 police questioned freelance journalist Stanley Gama following publication of a related story in the Zimbabwean edition of  The Sunday Times  which is published in South Africa. The harassment of the journalists comes hard on the heels of statements by the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu that harassment of journalists should stop.

 

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Reagan Malumo

Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat

21 Johann Albrecht St

Private Bag 13386

Windhoek

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 232 975

Fax: +264 61 248 016

Mobile: +264 81 311 2626

Official Email: reagan@misa.org

Private Email: reagan32002@yahoo.com

 

 

- April 7, 2010 by MISA

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Source: www.misa.org (received via email alert 07.04.10)