Three journalists – Blessed Mhlanga, James Muonwa and Whycliff Nyarota – accused of contravening the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) applied for discharge after the state closed its case on May 28, 2008. All three are employed by the Network Guardian, a weekly based in Zimbabwe’s city of Kwekwe in the Midlands province. The three were charged under Section 80 (1) (a) (2) of AIPPA, which prohibits the publication of falsehoods. The state alleges that on March 26 the three or one of them unlawfully and intentionally published a false story in the Network Guardian newspaper that George Muvhimi and Tatenda Munhanga were having an affair and were seen in a compromising position at a shopping centre in Kwekwe. June 3, 2008: The trial of two Kwekwe-based journalists accused of publishing falsehoods in breach of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was on July 2 postponed to July 15 after the trial magistrate dismissed the defence application to stop proceedings pending an appeal against his refusal to discharge them. June 16, 2008: Kwekwe journalist Blessed Mhlanga was on June 11 acquitted on charges of contravening Section 80 (1)(a)(2) of AIPPA, which prohibits the publication of falsehoods, but his colleagues Wycliff Nyarota and James Muonwa were put to their defence. In a brief ruling Kwekwe Magistrate Oliver Mudzongachiso ruled that none of the state witnesses implicated Mhlanga in the commission of the alleged offence of abuse of journalistic privileges. He, therefore, found him not guilty of the offence and acquitted him at the close of the state’s case. The magistrate, however, said he was convinced that the state had established a prima facie case against Nyarota and Muonwa and ordered that they be put to their defence. July 16, 2008 Journalists Wycliff Nyarota and James Muonwa, accused of publishing falsehoods in breach of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), opened their defence case on July 15. Nyarota and Muonwa are facing charges under Section 80 (1) (a) (2) of AIPPA for allegedly unlawfully and intentionally publishing a false story in The Network Guardian that George Muvhimi and Tatenda Munhanga were caught in a compromising position in a vehicle at the Mbizo Shopping Centre. • ALERT Date: May 29, 2008 Person/institutions: Flata Kavinga and Kudakwashe Zvarayi Violation/issue: Threatened The editor of the The Midlands Observer, Flata Kavinga, was on May 29 threatened by a war veteran. The newspaper is based in Zimbabwe’s city of Kwekwe in the Midlands province. According to Kavinga, he was approached by a war veteran named Diva while he was standing in a bank queue. Diva began by asking Kavinga if he knew The Midlands Observer editor because there was a “programme of action” to deal with him. The war veteran accused the paper of being pro-opposition by supporting the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and writing articles critical of the state. Furthermore, he accused the paper of being anti-government as it only publishes articles meant to discredit Zanu-PF. Meanwhile, another Midlands Observer journalist, Kudakwashe Zvarayi ,was on June 1 threatened by top Zanu-PF officials of Kwekwe district after being spotted putting on a MISA Zimbabwe World Press Freedom Day t-shirt. According to Zvarayi, the officials said: “Who are you to demand media freedom? Who has deprived you of this freedom, which you are clamouring for? If you continue putting on this t-shirt we are going to beat you up and burn the t-shirt also.” So This Is Democracy? 2008 -144- Media Institute of Southern Africa