and beaten up him and the maid before taking him to Southerton Police station where he was released after a couple of hours without charge. His car was impounded by the Police. Tsvangirayi told MISA Zimbabwe he was concerned about his safety and that of his family. He had also seen his car being driven around the city centre by unknown persons. • ALERT Date: September 22, 2008 Person: Peter Muchengeti Violation/issue: Victory Peter Muchengeti, the regional chairman of the National Association of Non- Governmental Organisations (NANGO) in the Midlands Province, was on September 16 freed on charges of communicating falsehoods. Prosecutor Katherine Chisvo told Gweru Magistrate Irvine Mhlanga that the state was withdrawing its case against Muchengeti due to lack of evidence. The state was alleging that Muchengeti had told Voice of America’s (VOA) Studio 7 programme in an interview broadcast from Washington DC that “six bodies” had been discovered in Matshekandumba village at the 30-kilometre peg along the Kwekwe-Gweru highway. • ALERT Date: October 1, 2008 Person/institutions: Media Violation/issue: Other/legislation The Speaker of Zimbabwe’s Parliament, Lovemore Moyo, says the incoming inclusive government should deliver on the letter and spirit of the agreement signed by Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations in view of the restrictive nature of laws, such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). Speaking at the National Journalistic and Media Awards (NJAMA) on September 26 in Harare, Moyo conceded that Parliament had over the years passed various media laws such as AIPPA, POSA and BSA that “have hindered freedom of expression”. • ALERT Date: October 20, 2008 Person/institutions: State media editors Violation/issue: Other Editors working for the state-controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers) were in August 2008 put under surveillance to check their commitment to Zanu-PF government policies. This surveillance resulted in the hacking of the private e-mail of one of its editors, Bhekinkosi Ncube, as authorised by the group’s chief executive officer, Justin Mutasa. Mutasa told an internal disciplinary hearing following Ncube’s suspension as editor of the vernacular tabloid, Umthunywa, that he authorised the hacking of the editors’ private e-mails. Zimpapers publishes The Herald, The Sunday Mail, The Chronicle, The Manica Post, Kwayedza and Umthunywa. Ncube is accused of insulting President Robert Mugabe and the government in private e-mails exchanged with friends on the political situation prevailing in the country. According to minutes of the proceedings obtained by the weekly privately owned, The Standard newspaper, Tom Ndovi, Zimpapers’ information technology manager, told the hearing that he accessed all the group editors’ private e-mails using software known as “password cracker” and presented all the findings to the chief executive officer. • ALERT Date: October 30, 2008 Person/institutions: Tafadzwa Sikwila Violation/issue: Beaten Power FM state radio station disc jockey Tafadzwa Sikwila, also known as DJ Squila, sustained So This Is Democracy? 2008 -149- Media Institute of Southern Africa