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Standard journalist arrested
MISA-Zimbabwe
November 17, 2010

Nqobani Ndlovu a reporter with the weekly Standard newspaper who is based in Bulawayo was on 17 November 2010 arrested in connection with a story alleging the cancellation of police promotional examinations.

According to Newsday Bulawayo bureau chief Dumisani Sibanda , Ndlovu, who is being held at Bulawayo Central police station is likely to be charged with criminal defamation in terms of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. Sibanda said the police were now also reportedly looking for the editor of the Standard Nevanji Madanhire.

Ndlovu is the author of the story which was carried by the Standard on 14 November 2010 alleging that the examinations were being scrapped to facilitate the absorption of war veterans and retired police officers in the police force ahead of the 2011 elections. Alpha Media Holdings are publishers of the Standard, Newsday and Zimbabwe Independent.

Background

On 16 November 2010 the police briefly detained and questioned Sibanda at Bulawayo Central Police station in connection with the same story. Sibanda told MISA-Zimbabwe that police from the Criminal Investigations Department's Law and Order section picked him from the Newsday offices in Bulawayo on 16 November 2010. He said the police wanted him to disclose the whereabouts of Ndlovu, the author of the story in question, as a precondition for his release. He was later released on the same day after telling them that Nqobani was out of town.

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