His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: +263 4 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644
Vienna, 23 August 2001
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent arrest and detention of Mark Chavunduka.
On the basis of information provided to IPI, Mark Chavunduka, editor of The Standard, was arrested by police on 22 August at 9.30 a.m. and taken to the Harare central police station for questioning. He was later released in the early afternoon. The arrest was apparently related to the publication of a story on 19 August in The Standard claiming that President Mugabe was being haunted by the ghost of Josiah Tongogora, the late commander of the Zanla military forces. It is thought that Chavunduka may find himself charged with criminal defamation, although there is confusion about the name of the complainant.
The arrest of Chavunduka is only the most recent in a series of arrests of editors and journalists from the independent press in Zimbabwe. On 15 August, Geoff Nyarota of the Daily News was arrested and taken to the Harare central police station where he was later charged. Later, on the same day, the following Daily News staff were also arrested, news editor John Gambanga, reporter Sam Munyavi and deputy editor Bill Saidi. After signing warned and cautioned statements at the Central police station they were all released. On 20 August, Wallace Chuma, news editor, and Constantine Chimakure, reporter, of The Zimbabwe Mirror were arrested and questioned. Three days later, on 23 August, Basildon Peta, special projects editor of The Financial Gazette, was asked to report to the police in order to answer questions on unspecified charges.
In the opinion of IPI, the arrest of Chavunduka and the other journalists is a flagrant abuse of government power and is merely an attempt to harass and intimidate the media ahead of presidential elections which must be held before the end of April next year. Furthermore, IPI firmly believes that the article published is in no way defamatory and has been used as a means of terrorising Chavunduka. IPI would also remind you that the media have every right to report on news and it is the role of every democracy to uphold this right. By arresting the journalists, the government of Zimbabwe is once again displaying its willingness to flout this internationally accepted precept.
With the above in mind, IPI calls on the government of Zimbabwe to desist from the arrest and questioning of journalists and to observe its constitutional and international obligations to freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
We thank you for your attention.
Best regards,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
