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Army bans newspaper sales in Gutu
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
January 17, 2011

Members of the Zimbabwe National Army stationed at 4:2 Infantry Battalion in Gutu Mupandawana have reportedly banned the sale of a local independent newspaper in Gutu, in Masvingo province.

Residence are being denied the right to information, as soldiers continue to threaten anyone found in possession of a copy of the newspaper. Some soldiers were allegedly seen going around Gutu last week demanding all newspaper vendors to stop the sale of the independent newspaper. The Mirror. A Colonel Banda was reported to have warned some vendors against selling the newspaper and threatened to burn all copies of the paper. He also purportedly ordered the newspaper vendors to stick to selling the Herald if they wanted to be safe.

Newspaper vendors have revealed that they fear for their lives if found selling or in possession of the newspaper. The editor of the Mirror, Golden Maunganidze, has confirmed these reports, citing that volumes of the newspaper were returned to his office by vendors on Sunday.

The soldiers were arguing that the newspaper in edition dated 6 to 13 January published a story that was defamatory to army officers. The story was headlined "Soldiers run amok at Mupandawana" In the story army personnel were reported to have beaten up people, including a police officer, during the Christmas public holiday. The incident has since been taken to court and a soldier, Nxolise Ncube (22), was last week sentenced to a year in prison by Gutu resident magistrate Amos Mbodo for assault of a police officer.

ZimRights is appalled by this and other reports indicating that the army is increasing its presence through out the country, especially in rural areas where they are intimidating and harassing members of the public known or suspected to sympathize with parties other than Zanu PF. ZimRights would like to remind the culprits that it is the constitutional rights of citizens to information and to align themselves with any group of their choice.

We therefor call on the army and other state institutions to carry out their duties as they are mandated in a non- partisan manner and to respect the people's rights and freedoms. Instead of attacking the ordinary people, the soldiers should have taken the right course of action against the newspaper owners. Which is suing them through the courts. While the nation is working towards nation building the army must be seen to be protecting the interests of the people as opposed to attacking them

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