Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

ZIMBABWE
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
apologised to both Jemwa and the
ZBC. In a statement, the Zimbabwe
Defence Force (ZDF) spokesperson,
Colonel Mbonisi Gatsheni, said such
acts should not be tolerated. “Following
the incident, the commander of the
Defence Forces on behalf of the officers
would like to unreservedly state
that such events should never be condoned
in the ZDF,” Gatsheni stated.
In a related incident, a ZBC crew
that had gone to Chitungwiza to cover
the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) rally was attacked
by MDC supporters on April
7.
The ZBC was accused of biased reporting
by the MDC supporters. The
ZBC reported that a member of the
opposition executive, Sekia Holland,
was heard saying that the crew deserved
a beating. Holland said the
MDC secretary for external affairs
was heard on national television accusing
the ZBC of misrepresenting
her statements at the Commonwealth
meeting held in Australia. The windscreen
of the two reporters’ car was
destroyed as party supporters tried to
storm the car. The reporters were
saved by some MDC leaders and were
subsequently allowed to cover the
rally.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-04-15
PERSON(S): Dumisani Muleya
VIOLATION(S): Detained, legislation
Dumisani Muleya, chief reporter for
the independent business weekly
“Zimbabwe Independent”, was arrested
at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on
April 15, 2002 by the Criminal Investigations
Department (CID) for having
allegedly tarnished the image of
the First Lady.
In a April 12 “Zimbabwe Independent”
story, Muleya wrote that First
Lady Grace Mugabe’s brother was involved
in a labour dispute in which
he had solicited the help of his sister.
It was reported in the story, entitled
“First lady’s brother in bid to take over
local firm”, that after failing to get
their way, the workers, led by
Mugabe’s brother Erasmus Marufu,
turned to the First Lady for help.
The fairly balanced story also
quotes Lawrence Kamwi, Mugabe’s
spokesperson, as saying that he could
not remember the matter and that the
First Lady recommended that the
matter be taken to the relevant ministry.
In the story, Marufu confirmed his
relationship with Mugabe, as well as
the fact that the workers had written a
letter to the First Lady asking her to
intervene on their behalf.
“We wrote a letter but they didn’t
give us a clear answer. They just replied
saying we must go [to] the Ministry
of Labour. We went there but
nothing came out of it,” Marufu is reported
to have said.
“The story is true and maybe the
police is saying that the image of the
First Lady was tarnished,” said
Barnabas Thlondlana, “Zimbabwe Independent”
deputy editor-in-chief.
The “Zimbabwe Independent”
management has informed its lawyers,
Atherstone and Cook, of the development.
Lawyer Roselyn Zigomo of
Atherstone and Cook will handle the
case.
Muleya faces charges of criminal
defamation.
So This Is Democracy? 209