President Robert Mugabe has said that irresponsible journalists who write blatant lies to “cook up emotions” in the country will be arrested. Mugabe was speaking with the Voice of America (VOA) in New York in a wide-ranging interview. The president also said if the two “Standard” journalists wrote another lie which offended the army and […]
President Robert Mugabe has said that irresponsible journalists who write blatant lies to “cook up emotions” in the country will be arrested. Mugabe was speaking with the Voice of America (VOA) in New York in a wide-ranging interview.
The president also said if the two “Standard” journalists wrote another lie which offended the army and it took action again, then “I will not condemn my army for having done that when they are being provoked.”
He said that if the people believed false media stories the consequences for the country could be grave, hence the need to take immediate action. He told the VOA that journalists should get
arrested just like everybody else and that they should not have the protection which other individuals did not have. He went on to say that although the government of Zimbabwe recognised the journalists’ right to freedom of expression, there should be a great degree of responsibility on their part.
President Mugabe, however described as unfortunate the arrest of the two “Standard” journalists, Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, saying that it was “irregular” and “illegal”. He said the army had acted in anger and that “there was no one who was able to attend to the matter objectively” since he and Minister of Defence Moven Mahachi were out of the country. He, however, denied that the journalists had been tortured.
Mugabe told VOA that the journalists were just speaking the voice of their masters, disgruntled Rhodesians, bent on destroying his government.
