Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over Mzwandile Ndlovu, a journalist held by the police in the western town of Hwange since his arrest on May 10, and about the constant harassment of employees of two independent newspapers, The Daily News and NewsDay, by police, intelligence officials and members of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party. “We...
An independent daily newspaper critical of Zimbabwe’s president said Wednesday thieves raided its offices and stole computer hard drives and the editor’s laptop, the Associated Press has reported. Raphael Khumalo, chief executive at NewsDay said components and hard drives from 11 reporters’ computers were removed in the raid Monday night, along with the editor’s laptop used to write a weekly...
Another new newspaper has been revealed in Zimbabwe, making a surprise arrival on the streets on Thursday, reports swradioafrica.com. Dummy copies of the paper titled The Mail were handed out free to the public on Thursday, ahead of the paper’s official launch, set for some time next week. The paper, carrying a headline story that says: “Restrictions on rallies biased,” appears to be a far cry...
Internet user Vikas Mavhudzi has been detained for the past month on a charge of advocating the government’s overthrow in a message he posted on Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Facebook page. He is to remain in prison until his trial, for which no date has yet been set, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported Mavhudzi, 39, posted a message...
The Daily News, Zimbabwe's largest selling newspaper that was banned eight years ago for criticising President Robert Mugabe, has hit the stands again. The Daily News was a strident critic of Mugabe. With presidential elections again expected later this year, the newspaper is hardly beating a retreat. According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report, it went to the extent of asserting in its...
Golden Maunganidze, the editor of the privately owned weekly, The Masvingo Mirror, accused of defaming ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke, was freed by the courts after the state declined to prosecute him on February 24. The State said there was no evidence warranting prosecution. Maunganidze was arrested on February 23 in the southern town of Masvingo on allegations of...
Harare Magistrate Don Ndirowei removed from remand and granted an application for referral to the Supreme Court submitted by The Standard journalists Nevanji Madanhire and Nqobani Ndlovu after the state failed to oppose the application on February 28. Madanhire, who is the editor of The Standard, and Ndlovu, a reporter for the paper, are being charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law...
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government should repeal the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Committee to Protect Journalists said after a late 2010 amendment to the legislation hiked mandatory registration and accreditation fees for the press working in the country by as much as 400 percent. Since 2002, AIPPA, a draconian piece of media-licensing legislation, has forced...
The Zimbabwean government on Thursday warned journalists and media organisations operating in the African country that they could be prosecuted if they fail to immediately comply with new registration fees that have soared by as much as 300 percent, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists has condemned the new fees as 'shocking and retributive,' arguing that...
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, has brought about a libel suite against independent weekly The Standard for quoting a US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks accusing her of involvement in diamond trafficking. She is demanding $15 million in damages, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The First Lady’s libel suit aims to undermine...
