Standard journalists go into hiding
Two journalists working for the Weekly Standard went on the run on Friday as it emerged that state security agents wanted to question them. This comes as fears emerge of renewed attacks on the independent media.
Police visited the Standard offices on Thursday, a day after editor Nevanji Madanhire and reporter Nqaba Matshazi were granted bail on charges of criminal defamation for publishing a story about businessman-cum farmer Munyaradzi Kereke. Kereke is also an adviser to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono.
The detectives who visited AMH, the publishers of the Standard, said they wanted to speak to Madanhire in connection with a story published on October 1.
The report alleged that co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi was trying to force new farmers off their land and allocate it to his son and nephew. The story was authored by Matshazi.
After failing to locate Madanhire, the detectives left instructions for him to report to Harare Central Police station.
Sources said the editor and reporter were on the run as they feared the police would hold them in unbearable conditions over the weekend.
On Wednesday, they were each granted US$100 bail by Harare magistrate Sandra Mupindu.
They are being charged with criminal defamation and theft of documents. The charges arise from the publication of a story on Kereke's medical aid company, GreenCard, which is allegedly facing collapse.
The journalists' case was postponed to December 20, when their trial is expected to start. They were ordered to surrender their passports, refrain from interfering with witnesses and reside at their given addresses.
Prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema argued that the two should also be interdicted from writing any more stories related to the same subject pending the determination of the matter.
Their lawyer, Linda Cook, argued that granting such an application would be tantamount to muzzling the press and that the application had been made on the wrong platform.
The magistrate dismissed the application.
Kereke has filed a multimillion-dollar suit against the Standard. However, the onslaught on the Standard has been roundly condemned by journalist unions and other media watch-dogs.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), which has received sponsorship from Kereke, accused him of threatening press freedom. Dumisani Sibanda, the president of ZUJ, said the union would not be so blinded by Kereke's sponsorship as to fail to condemn threats to media freedom.
The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe said the arrests were an assault on the media by the police and the political elite.