Persons/Institutions: Toby Harnden, Julian Simmonds Violation: Detained On March 31 2005, two British journalists working for the Sunday Telegraph, Toby Harnden and photographer Julian Simmonds, were arrested outside Harare for covering the elections without accreditation, an offence punishable by two years imprisonment, a fine or both imprisonment and a fine. April 14, 2005: Norton magistrate Never Diza acquitted the two on charges of contravening AIPPA after the pair argued that they were in the country as tourists and not for purposes of covering the March 2005 parliamentary elections. ALERT Date: March 10, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Pius Wakatama Violation: Victory On March 10 2005, the State withdrew charges against Pius Wakatama, former columnist of the now closed Daily News newspaper. Wakatama was accused of publishing falsehoods under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The charge related to a column of April 29, 2002, in which Wakatama commented on the alleged incompetence of the Registrar General’s office concerning the vote counting. ALERT Date: February 25, 2005 Persons/Institutions: The Weekly Times Violation: Censored On February 25 2005, the Media and Information Commission (MIC) closed the privately owned Weekly Times publication barely a month after its launch, citing “misrepresentation and non-disclosure of material facts by the owners. ALERT Date: February 18, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Wilf Mbanga Violation: Threatened On February 18 2005, editor and publisher of the London-based The Zimbabwean and founding Chief Executive Officer of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), Wilf Mbanga, was critized by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) chairperson Dr Tafataona Mahoso for producing a donor-funded newspaper which, in his opinion, intends to undermine the existence of national and sovereign publications. ALERT Date: February 17, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Herald reporters Violation: Threatened On February 17 2005, an unnamed policewoman threatened to beat up a news crew from the government –controlled national daily, The Herald. The reporters were covering a traffic accident in which 14 people were killed. The policewoman had been incensed by an earlier story in which the police was accused of responding late to public calls that a man was lying dead at a shopping complex in Harare. ALERT Date: February 14, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Jan Raath, Angus Shaw, Brian Latham, Harare-based foreign So This Is Democracy? 2005 -167- Media Institute of Southern Africa