The three staff members of the “Standard” newspaper who were arrested on 23 February 2000, appeared in the Harare Magistrate’s Court and were charged with criminal defamation. Andy Moyse, the former acting editor, reporter Chengetayi Zvauya and managing director Clive Wilson were remanded out of custody to 24 March by Provincial Magistrate Remigias Jemwa. They […]
The three staff members of the “Standard” newspaper who were arrested on 23 February 2000, appeared in the Harare Magistrate’s Court and were charged with criminal defamation. Andy Moyse, the former acting editor, reporter Chengetayi Zvauya and managing director Clive Wilson were remanded out of custody to 24 March by Provincial Magistrate Remigias Jemwa. They were released at around 4:00 p.m. (local time).
The “Standard” lawyers asked the magistrate not to place their clients on remand until the Supreme Court had ruled on the constitutionality of doing so. They argued that there were no reasonable grounds for the remanding of their clients because the state failed to prove that they had committed a crime by defaming a specific person or persons in the “Standard” article. The magistrate dismissed the application to have the matter referred to the Supreme Court.
The state charged that the story was defamatory of the whole commission and that the false reports were likely to affect the interests of the state and community.
BACKGROUND:
Moyse, Zvauya and Wilson were arrested on 23 February for publishing a story which appeared in the “Standard” on 30 January. The story, which quoted sources at Government Printers, claimed that the government-sponsored draft constitution was printed in September 1999, long before the Constitutional Commission had completed gathering people’s opinions. The Constitutional Commission presented the draft to President Mugabe on 30 November 1999.
The Commission denied the claims made by the “Standard” report through the same paper.
The “Standard” apologised for the story in its 20 February issue and admitted it was “entirely untrue”. Moyse also resigned from the paper as a result of the story.
