Zimbabwean police are now targeting a journalist for not writing a story, writes our correspondent.
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According to a report in The Standard, police detectives have accused the paper’s Bulawayo correspondent, Kholwani Nyathi, of interviewing people without running a story.
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This came to light when the journalist complained to his superiors of intimidation and harassment.
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According to a sergeant based near the Zimbabwe-Botswana border, Nyathi visited the town of Plumtree before the presidential run-off election of June 27 but “up to now†has not published the article.
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Standard editor Davison Maruziva said police had requested personal and professional details of the reporter and were furnished with his accreditation details. Nevertheless, they apparently still want to “independently verify†the information, and have demanded that Nyathi “visit†them in the border town of Plumtree, says Maruziva.
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Several journalists have been arrested in the small town of Plumtree, including the editor of a labour newspaper, Bright Chibvuri, and television journalists from Botswana.
While Harare continues with its campaign against independent journalists, the world is recognizing excellent journalists.
Trevor Ncube, the chief executive Officer of the Mail & Guardian and proprietor of popular Zimbabwe weeklies The Independent and The Standard, has been awarded the 2008 German Africa Award 2008.
The award is given to journalists who have shown courage in the fight for human rights, press freedom and democracy in their countries.
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German Ambassador to South Africa Dieter Walter Haller said Ncube had consistently shown courage and remains one of the “essential pillars in the fight to attain free and democratic societies in Africa.
Trevor Ncube receives the German Africa Award 2008 as an appreciation for his long-time engagement for freedom, human rights, and democracy in Zimbabwe and Africa as well as for independent journalism as an essential pillar of free press and democratic societies,†Haller said.
The award will be presented to Ncube on October 17.
Meanwhile, the trial of two Kwekwe-based journalists accused of publishing falsehoods in breach of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) has been postponed to 15 July after the trial magistrate dismissed the defence application to stop proceedings pending an appeal against his refusal to discharge them.
Wycliff Nyarota and James Muonwa are facing charges under Section 80 (1) (a) 20 of AIPPA for allegedly unlawfully and intentionally publishing a false story in the Network Guardian newspaper about two people allegedly caught being intimate at a shopping centre.