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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Simba Makoni joins the presidential race in Zimbabwe - Index of Articles
Filmmaker
arrested over Makoni posters
Tafirei
Shumba, ZimOnline
March 22, 2008
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2912
Harare - Zimbabwe
state security agents on Wednesday arrested and detained a local
film-maker, O'brian Mudyiwenyama, for several hours for allegedly
filming campaign posters of presidential aspirant Simba Makoni.
Mudyiwenyama was arrested
in central Harare while filming pictures for an oncoming movie,
Super Patriots and Morons.
The movie is adapted
from a stage play of the same title that was banned about five years
ago on the grounds that the play was a direct attack on President
Robert Mugabe's administration.
State agents from the
feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) however swooped on
Mudyiwenyama as he zoomed on a campaign poster of Makoni, one of
four presidential candidates seeking to wrestle power from Mugabe
in next Saturday's presidential election.
Speaking to ZimOnline
yesterday, Mudyiwenyama said he was bundled into a car and was whisked
away to the CIO headquarters in central Harare.
"They (CIO) approached
me from nowhere and before I knew it, I found myself bundled in
their car and headed for Chaminuka Building where I was interrogated
by different officers each time I was moved to four different offices
in all.
"The officers accused
me of siding with Makoni and said I was merely dreaming if I ever
thought Makoni would be president of Zimbabwe one day," said
Mudyiwenyama.
The film-maker said state
agents also accused him of being an enemy of the state adding that
his actions to film Makoni's campaign posters were punishable by
death.
Mudyiwenyama said he
was only released several hours later after the intervention of
a senior CIO officer who warned him "to stay out of trouble".
State Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa who is in charge of the CIO could not be reached
for comment on the matter.
Mutasa has however in
the past refused to comment on matters involving the state security
agency.
Zimbabweans go to the
polls next weekend to elect a new president, parliamentarians and
local government representatives.
The elections have generated
widespread interest from international media with hundreds of foreign
journalists applying for accreditation from the state's Media and
Information Commission (MIC) to cover the polls.
Mugabe's spokesman George
Charamba last week warned that state security agents were ready
to fish out "spies" disguised as journalists seeking to
cover the elections political analysts say Mugabe could lose because
of a severe economic crisis gripping the southern African country.
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