(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 April 2001, “The Daily News” reported that on Tuesday 24 April, lawyers representing “Daily News” political reporter Sandra Nyaira gave Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President’s Office Jonathan Moyo and “The Herald” newspaper three days to retract a defamatory story carried by the newspaper or jointly face […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 April 2001, “The Daily News” reported that on Tuesday 24 April, lawyers representing “Daily News” political reporter Sandra Nyaira gave Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President’s Office Jonathan Moyo and “The Herald” newspaper three days to retract a defamatory story carried by the newspaper or jointly face a $250,000 (US $5,000) defamation lawsuit.
Nyaira’s legal action follows a story published by “The Herald” last week in which Moyo castigated Nyaira for reporting that Vice President Joseph Msika had literally begged veteran nationalist and freedom fighter Edgar Tekere to rejoin the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Moyo said the report was outrageous and that because of the story, “The Daily News” was now beyond redemption, having lost all ability to tell the truth.
In a letter to Moyo, Nyaira’s lawyer, Oscar Ziweni of Ziweni and Company, said that the article was meant to demean and injure Nyaira. “In the circumstances, because your publication under reference was clearly actuated by malice and was deliberately meant to demean and injure our client’s reputation as a journalist, we are instructed to demand a retraction of your offending article within three days from the date of this demand, to avert litigation, which is impending for defamatory damages against yourself,” reads the letter.
In an interview with “The Daily News”, Ziweni said that Nyaira’s case against Moyo and “The Herald” has the potential for success because her article was legitimised by former Secretary-General of ZANU-PF Tekere, when he issued a statement which intimated that Moyo’s utterances in “The Herald” were false.
“In the absence of an unequivocal retraction and apology as demanded, we shall proceed with litigation without further notice to yourself and our client shall be claiming defamatory damages in the sum of $250,000 (US$5,000) against yourself co-jointly with ‘The Herald’,” Ziweni said.
Ziweni said Nyaira’s claims for damages in the absence of a retraction would be aggravated by the fact that Moyo threatened Nyaira with unspecified harm when he said: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“The retraction has to be published in ‘The Herald’ and must unequivocally rebut all allegations, indirect references, imputations and insinuations contained in the offending article, said Ziweni.
He said Moyo’s article was defamatory in that it suggested to members of the public that Nyaira was dishonest, corrupt, journalistically incompetent and unsuitable to work as a political reporter for “The Daily News”.
“You further wrongfully refer to our client as a fumbling political reporter in circumstances where there was no good cause, thereby implying that she is degenerate and inefficient in the execution of her professional duties,” said Ziweni.
He said Nyaira is being shunned and exposed to hatred, ridicule and contempt by members of the public who now view her negatively in light of Moyo’s attacks.
In a separate letter to the editor of “The Herald”, Pikirayi Deketeke, Nyaira’s lawyer said the newspaper was liable for publishing a false and defamatory story. He said the newspaper should have verified the story with both Nyaira and Tekere before publishing it.
