Their case becomes the first in which state journalists are charged
under any of the repressive media laws in the country. Media laws that
journalists', particularly freelance journalists and journalists
working for the independent media, are usually charged under include
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the
Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.
The two journalists who were represented by Job Sibanda of Sibanda and
Associates were not asked to plead when they appeared before Magistrate
Masimba. Instead, their application for refusal of remand was turned
down by the Magistrate who said the two had a case to answer.
Malaba and Tshuma argued, however, that because the State did not have
enough evidence to prove that they had a case to answer, there was no
basis to put them on further remand. They further argued that the
published story was about corruption at the GMB and did not in any way
involve the police.
In his judgment, the Magistrate remanded the two out of custody to 19
May 2009 for trial and stated that the application was based on whether
there was any reasonable suspicion that an offence was committed.
Background
Malaba and Tshuma were on 17 March 2009 arrested and made to sign a
warned and cautioned statement by police in Bulawayo following the
publication of the story on the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) maize
scandal in which tonnes of maize was sold on the black market and in
neighbouring Zambia.
At the time the Tshuma hinted that the State seemed reluctant to prosecute as there was allegedly no complainant in the matter.
MISA-Zimbabwe
Post published in: News