Zimbabwean authorities are still harassing and intimidating the Zimbabwean, a privately-owned newspaper that is edited in Britain and printed in South Africa. In the latest instance, criminal charges of “publishing falsehoods” have been brought against the directors of Adquest, the company that distributes it inside Zimbabwe. No date has yet been set for their trial, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
“We deplore the fact that the privately-owned Zimbabwean media are still exposed to police-state reactions and intimidation attempts,” Paris-based said. “It is unjust and absurd to target this newspaper’s distributors, who are not responsible for its content. This is all the more disturbing as the national unity government formed a year ago said it intended to guarantee press freedom.”
Adquest directors Barnabas Madzimure and Fortune Mutandiro were arrested by the police on February 10, charged under criminal law with “publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state” and then released. The previous day, three of Adquest’s drivers were detained and questioned for three hours before being freed.
The arrests were prompted by a story in the January 10 issue headlined “Mnangagwa plots fight back: talk of new splinter group,” which reported that defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa had been with other leading members of the ruling ZANU-PF party with a view to taking control of the party.
“Madzimure and Mutandiro had nothing to do with this,” said Zimbabwean editor Wilf Mbanga. “They were not even responsible for distributing the 10 January issue, because we did not start working with Adquest until January 14. We were distributed by Publications Distributors at that time.”
One of the newspaper’s reporters, Stanley Kwenda, fled Zimbabwe in mid-January after being threatened by Chrispen Makedenge, a senior police officer implicated in the abduction of journalists and members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party that has entered into a power-sharing arrangement with ZANU-PF.
