(MISA/IFEX) – On 29 April 2001 “The Standard” reported that one of the newspaper’s correspondents was attacked last week by suspected Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) youths in Ruwa’s Mandalay Park. Ruwa is a small town thirty kilometres outside Harare. The journalist, Samuel Mungadze, was investigating claims that people in the surrounding […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 29 April 2001 “The Standard” reported that one of the newspaper’s correspondents was attacked last week by suspected Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) youths in Ruwa’s Mandalay Park. Ruwa is a small town thirty kilometres outside Harare.
The journalist, Samuel Mungadze, was investigating claims that people in the surrounding farms were being forced to attend Independence celebrations held at the Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre. The assailants who attacked Mungadze accused him of reporting for a newspaper that they deemed to be anti-government.
The attack on the journalist came after the Member of Parliament for Marondera West (a rural constituency), Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri of ZANU-PF, held a meeting with local ZANU-PF youths at Chivaraidze shopping centre and urged them to “take on the enemy” in Mandalay Park.
The assailants first attacked Mungadze at Chivaraidze shopping centre and then followed him and beat him a second time outside Mutinhiri’s plot. According to “The Standard”, Mutinhiri said he was not aware of the issue and could not comment.
The officer-in-charge at Ruwa police station confirmed that “there was a report of the assault, but we referred the matter to Epworth police station, as the area where this journalist was attacked falls under their area of operation.”
The evidence on the police medical report form reveals that the journalist had swollen lips and a bruised face, indicating that an assault had taken place. The assailants took three passport-size photographs, notebooks, a watch and a bank card from Mungadze.
Attacks on journalists have been increasing, especially against those in the private media, which the government deems unpatriotic. War veterans loyal to ZANU-PF spearhead most of the attacks.
