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Weekly Media update 2010-13
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Monday April 5th 2010 - Sunday April 11th 2010
April 16, 2010

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Comment

Police threaten journalists

The authorities once again demonstrated their intolerance of a free media seeking to fulfil their mandate as public watchdogs of government propriety when they interrogated local journalists investigating reports of corrupt activities by prominent individuals, including a government minister.

Rather than following up the findings of a special investigations committee set up by Harare City Council to investigate the "illegal" and "irregular" sale of council land, the authorities instead, questioned reporters Feluma Nleya and Jennifer Dube from the private weekly paper, The Standard, and freelance journalist Stanley Gama, who reported on the committee's findings linking flamboyant Harare businessman Phillip Chiyangwa and Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo to the allegedly fraudulent land deals.

According to The Standard (28/4) the police intend to charge the journalists with criminal defamation as a result of their stories instead of investigating the allegations contained in the committee's report.

MMPZ considers this to be a blatant attempt to intimidate Zimbabwe's journalist community and discourage them from reporting on corruption by influential members of society.

Not only does this action expose the partisan nature of the police, it also illustrates the need for the urgent removal of an anachronistic and excessively draconian piece of legislation that remains a useful tool of intimidation in the armoury of authoritarian regimes.

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