Zimbabwe

(MISA/IFEX) – Ignatius Pamire, the interim secretary of Zimbabwe’s leading football team, Dynamos, threatened to kill sports writers for allegedly writing negatively about his administration, according to reports carried in “The Herald” and “The Daily News” on 2 May 2002. Pamire warned sports writers who were attending a sports function in the capital, Harare, that […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Three journalists were released on 2 May 2002. Lloyd Mudiwa, Collin Chiwanza and Andrew Meldrum were released after each being granted bail of US$36. On 2 May, Provincial Magistrate Lilian Kudya ordered the journalists’ release. On 3 May, Mudiwa and Chiwanza appeared in court for an initial remand. The Magistrates Court also heard […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is reported to be seeking the services of Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to investigate the editor of the state-owned newspaper, “The Chronicle”. The party is accusing editor Stephen Ndlovu of having written falsehoods in a story that appeared on 22 April 2002. On […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 1 May 2002 joint statement by 11 IFEX members urging the Zimbabwean government to drop the charges against three journalists arrested under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act: PRESS RELEASE: Eleven IFEX members sign appeal urging Zimbabwe to drop charges against journalists We, the participants […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 1 May 2002 letter to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, CPJ condemned the arrests of Lloyd Mudiwa, Collin Chiwanza and Andrew Meldrum, three Harare-based, independent journalists. Central Intelligence Division officers arrested Mudiwa and Chiwanza, both staff writers at the privately owned “Daily News”, at their Harare office in the early morning hours […]

MISA/IFEX) – Moses Oguti, the editor-in-chief of the Botswana-based monthly magazine “Trans Kalahari”, was released on Tuesday 23 April 2002. His release comes 45 days after he was arrested in Mutare for allegedly entering Zimbabwe illegally through the Forbes Border Post (the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique). Oguti, who is a Ugandan citizen, told “The […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The minister of information and publicity in the president’s office, Professor Jonathan Moyo, has warned government parastatals against advertising in “The Daily News”. Moyo alleges the newspaper has created a reputation of peddling lies, the state-owned “Herald” reported on Monday 29 April 2002. The minister made these remarks after “The Daily News” published […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Tuesday 16 April 2002, a second charge of contravening Section 80, Subsection 1 (b) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act was added to Dumisani Muleya’s case by the police. Muleya is the chief reporter of the “Zimbabwe Independent” newspaper. Section 80, Subsection 1 (b) of the act stipulates […]

(MISA/IFEX) – “Zimbabwe Independent” editor Iden Wetherell was arrested on Wednesday 17 April 2002 at around 2:00 p.m. (local time). His arrest, the third arrest of independent journalists in three days, marks the first serious clampdown on the independent media by the government of Zimbabwe since the enactment of the draconian Access to Information and […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Dumisani Muleya, chief reporter of the “Zimbabwe Independent” newspaper, was released from police custody at 6:30 p.m. (local time) on 15 April 2002. Muleya, who was arrested on 15 April on charges of criminal defamation, was released after the police recorded a “warned and cautioned” statement from him. He was set to report […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Zimbabwe’s riot police raided an aspiring community radio station, “Radio Dialogue”, and arrested a Yugoslav international who is doing consultancy work for the station. “Radio Dialogue” is based in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo. In a message to MISA’s Zimbabwe chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe), Father Nigel Johnson, the co-ordinator of “Radio Dialogue”, said that disgruntled […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Dumisani Muleya, chief reporter for the independent business weekly “Zimbabwe Independent”, was arrested at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on 15 April 2002 by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID),for having allegedly tarnished the image of the First Lady. In a 12 April “Zimbabwe Independent” story, Muleya wrote that First Lady Grace Mugabe’s brother was […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 10 April 2002, “The Daily News” chief reporter Pedzisayi Ruhanya was expelled from a press conference, on the orders of Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, who was addressing the media. Mudede had called the conference to dismiss a 9 April “The Daily News” front-page story headlined, “Mudede tape proves Mugabe lost Election”. The […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe’s only independent daily “The Daily News”, was released at around 4:00 p.m. (local time) on 15 April 2002 after being charged under Section 80 Subsection 1 (a) of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Nyarota was arrested at around 1:00 p.m. on 15 April […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Edwina and Newton Spicer, of Spicer Productions, were arrested on Saturday 6 April 2002, while covering the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) organised demonstration. They were released four hours after being detained. Photographer Calvin Dondo, of the Pan African News Agency, was also beaten up and arrested and had his camera seized by the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – A Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) cameraman, Patrick Jemwa, was beaten by soldiers and seriously injured on Saturday 6 April 2002. At the time, Jemwa was filming a march organised by the civic organisation, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), in Harare. Jemwa sustained serious injuries and was taken to the Avenues Clinic, where he […]