(MISA/IFEX) – Charges of publishing “false information likely to cause fear, alarm or despondency” against the group publisher of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Ibbo Mandaza, and journalist Grace Kwinjeh, were dropped on 30 April 1999. Mandaza and Kwinjeh appeared in the Harare Magistrate’s Court for a review of their bail conditions when they were informed that […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Charges of publishing “false information likely to cause fear,
alarm or despondency” against the group publisher of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”,
Ibbo Mandaza, and journalist Grace Kwinjeh, were dropped on 30 April 1999.
Mandaza and Kwinjeh appeared in the Harare Magistrate’s Court for a review
of their bail conditions when they were informed that the charges had been
dropped. No reasons were given for this.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 11 February, 10 February, 9 February and 8 February
1999; for background on the Chavunduka and Choto case see IFEX alerts of 15
March, 24 February, 12 February, 11 February, 10 February, 9 February, 3
February, 29 January, 27 January, 25 January, 22 January, 21 January, 18
January, 15 January and 13 January 1999**
The move means that a Supreme Court application brought by the newspaper,
and challenging the constitutionality of the law under which the two had
been charged, will also fall away.
Background Information
Kwinjeh was arrested on 8 February along with fellow journalists Fernando
Goncalves and Farai Mungazi in connection with a story that was run in the
“Zimbabwe Mirror” in October 1998. Mandaza later handed himself over to the
police, saying that as editor-in-chief he was equally responsible for the
story for which the journalists had been arrested. Goncalves and Mungazi
were released a short while after being taken in, but Kwinjeh and Mandaza
were held overnight and released on bail on 9 February.
The contentious article, written by Kwinjeh, reported on a Zimbabwean
casualty in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose family,
apparently, was sent only his head for burial. The government denied these
allegations, and in fact, a few weeks after the story appeared, the
authorities claimed to have exhumed the soldiers’ body to prove the story
wrong. The production editor of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Trevor Harris, told
MISA, however, that they had stuck to their story because they were not
invited to the alleged exhumation, nor did they ever get to see the actual
body.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
calling
for the dropping of the charges facing two journalists from the “Standard”
newspaper, Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto (see IFEX alerts)
Appeals To
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: +263 4 708 557Moven Mahachi
Zimbabwe Minister of Defence
Fax: +263 4 796 762
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
