ALERT (including update) Date: May 02, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Richard Musazulwa (deceased) Violation: Victory (charges dropped) On May 2 2005, Gweru Magistrate Auxilia Chimburu acquitted now deceased correspondent of the weekly private-owned Standard newspaper, Richard Musazulwa, on charges of contravening Section 80 (1) (b) of AIPPA which deals with abuse of journalistic privilege. This followed the publication of a story on August 29, 2004, in which Musazulwa alleged that hungry Zanu PF youths had attempted to gatecrash a luncheon hosted by the Air Force of Zimbabwe at Thornhill Airbase in Gweru. The magistrate ruled that the state had failed to prove its case. ALERT Date: April 20, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Davison Maruziva, Savious Kwinika Violation: Legislation On April 20 2005, Davison Maruziva, Savious Kwinika, editor and reporter with the Standard weekly newspaper, were charged with abusing journalistic privilege in terms of Section 80 (c) (1) of AIPPA. This followed publication of a story on April 10, 2005, alleging that some ballot papers had gone missing during the March 2005 parliamentary elections. Police said they would proceed by way of summons after recording their warned and cautioned statements. ALERT Date: April 08, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Ray Choto, Mark Chavunduka Violation: Victory Journalist Ray Choto and the estate of the late Mark Chavunduka, have been paid a total of more than 20 million Zimbabwean dollars (approx.US$3,225 at the official rate) in damages and interest claims for the torture and unlawful arrest they suffered following the publication of an alleged abortive coup plot in 1999. The damages were awarded posthumously to Chavunduka, who was editor of the privatelyowned weekly “The Standard” newspaper, together with Choto, who was his senior reporter at the time. Choto is now based in Washington, USA. The pair was paid more than $20 million in damages and interest for the torture and unlawful arrest they suffered following publication of a story in December 1998 alleging an abortive coup plot by Zimbabwe National Army soldiers. Military personnel tortured the journalists following publication of the story. ALERT Date: April 03, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Professor Welshman Ncube Violation: Other On March 10 2005, Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary-general Professor Welshman Ncube accuses the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings of sabotaging its election campaign programmes. ZBH executive director said the issue should have been directed to Transmedia, which is responsible for transmission. ALERT (including update) Date: March 31, 2005 So This Is Democracy? 2005 -166- Media Institute of Southern Africa