Violation/issue: Detained Freelance journalists Frank Chikowore and Edgar Mwandiambira were arrested in the morning of June 27 while covering election proceedings at Mhofu Primary school in Harare’s suburb of Highfield at the opening of the presidential election run-off poll. According to their lawyer, Aleck Muchadehama, the two were held at Machipisa Police station. Muchadehama said the two were arrested after making an enquiry from the presiding officer at the polling station whether they could proceed to cover proceedings at the polling station using their accreditation for the March 29 elections. The presiding officer is said to have professed ignorance and referred them to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The two were then stopped by a police officer at the gate on their way out and taken to the CID Law and Order Section. Mhofu primary school is where Zanu-PF presidential candidate, President Robert Mugabe, was expected to cast his vote. June 30, 2008: Freelance journalists Frank Chikowore and Edgar Mwandiambira, who were arrested on June 27, while covering election proceedings at Mhofu Primary school in Harare’s suburb of Highfield at the opening of the presidential election run-off poll, were fined and released a few hours after their arrest. Freelance photographers Richard Judson, Regis Marisamhuka and Agrisson Manyenge who were arrested on the same day in Harare were released without charges on June 29 after spending a night in police custody. News reporter Tumaole Mohlaoli and cameraperson Elelewani Rampfumedzi, both from e.tv, were also reportedly arrested in the southern border town of Beitbridge on the same day while covering a protest march against the Zimbabwean elections. The e.tv staff members were also released after spending a night in the cells. Chikowore and Mwandiambira were fined under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, while the other journalists were released without charges. • ALERT Date: July 8, 2008 Person/institutions: Kholwani Nyathi Violation/issue: Victory Police in Plumtree have dropped the case against Kholwani Nyathi, a Bulawayo-based correspondent with The Standard, a privately owned weekly. Nyathi was wanted for questioning over an unpublished story he had investigated following a visit to the south-western border town. Nyathi was ordered to present himself at the Police station by Plumtree officer-in-charge of the law and order section, Assistant Inspector Sifelani, and duly did so in the company of his lawyer, Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga, on July 7. Davison Maruziva, the editor of The Standard, told MISA Zimbabwe that the Police had recorded his accreditation details and said the case was over. • ALERT Date: July 8, 2008 Person/institutions: Flata Kavinga Violation/issue: Censored Police in Gweru have ordered Flata Kavinga, editor of the Kwekwe-based weekly Midlands Observer, to retract a story alleging that a Police officer had reportedly been dismissed for refusing to cast a postal vote in the June 27 presidential election run-off. Kavinga, who was summoned to report at Gweru police station on July 8, told MISA Zimbabwe that Inspector Chademana ordered him to retract the story as the Police officer in question, Constable Tafadzwa Gambiza, had been dismissed for insubordination and not for the reasons reported by the newspaper. • ALERT Date: July 17, 2008 Person/institutions: Globecast Satellite So This Is Democracy? 2008 -147- Media Institute of Southern Africa