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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Index of results, reports, press stmts and articles on March 31 2005 General Election - post Mar 30
Standard
newspaper editor charged
MISA-Zimbabwe
April 20, 2005
Davison Maruziva
the editor of the privately owned Standard Weekly newspaper has
been charged with abusing journalistic privilege by allegedly publishing
falsehoods under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act (AIPPA).
Maruziva told
MISA-Zimbabwe that the police had on 20 April 2005 recorded a warned
and cautioned statement from him in connection with a story alleging
that some ballot papers had gone missing during last month’s parliamentary
elections.
Maruziva said
he is being accused of breaching Section 80 (c) (i) of AIPPA which
deals with the abuse of journalistic privilege through the publication
of falsehoods.
He is also alleged
to have breached Section 15 (2) of the Public Order and Security
Act (POSA) which prohibits the publication of false statements that
are likely to incite public disorder.
He said the
police had told him that they would be proceeding by way of summons
as they still had to refer the matter to the Attorney-General’s
Office for possible prosecution.
Maruziva said
their story is based on a court record which confirms that Zaka
acting DA John Dzinoruma Mubako and Norah Thokozani Chisi, an election
officer appeared before a local magistrate facing charges of contravening
a section of the Electoral Act.
The Standard
broke the story of the missing ballot papers in its edition of 10
April 2005 saying the papers in question had been found at the home
of the District Administrator (DA) for Zaka Nyashadzashe Zindove.
In a follow
–up story published on 17 April, the paper, however, apologized
for incorrectly identifying Zindove as the DA for Zaka. Zindove
had infact been posted to another district just before the elections
held on 31 March 2005.
The weekly quoted
the State case alleging that some of the material was recovered
at the acting DA’s residence.
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