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ZANU
PF youths harass journalist over alleged Studio 7 links
Regerai
Marwezu, ZimOnline
August 25, 2007
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1904
MASVINGO - Ruling
ZANU PF youths on Wednesday abducted and held captive a Zimbabwean
journalist for more than six hours in Gutu district in the southern
province of Masvingo after they accused him of working for a US-based
anti-government radio station.
Godfrey Mutimba,
a correspondent for the weekly Standard newspaper, was in Gutu to
investigate allegations that ZANU PF youths were beating up villagers
who had attended a memorial service for the late opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) national chairman Isaac Matongo.
Matongo's memorial
service was held at his rural home in Gutu about two weeks ago.
The ZANU PF
youths pounced on Mutimba and detained him for close to six hours
after they accused him of working for the Voice of America's Studio
7, a radio station run by exiled Zimbabwean journalists.
The youths threatened
to beat up Mutimba whom they accused of churning out anti-government
propaganda at the radio station. He was only released after senior
ZANU PF officials in the area ordered his release.
"I had
gone to Gutu to investigate allegations that some villagers were
being victimized for attending Matongo's memorial service. But before
I could complete my work, a group of ZANU PF youths abducted me
and threatened to beat me up.
"They accused
me of working for Studio 7. But I told them I was from the Standard
newspaper. Even when I showed them my Press (identification) card,
they refused to listen and continued harassing me," said Mutimba.
Attacks and
harassment of journalists by ZANU PF supporters are common in Zimbabwe
ahead of election times. Several journalists have been arrested
and beaten up in the line of duty over the past four years.
For example,
last month, the wife of Zimbabwe army commander Jocelyn Chiwenga,
beat up award-winning photographer Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi who was
covering a tour of supermarkets by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The Zimbabwean
government, that has shut down four privately-run newspapers and
arrested over a hundred journalists over the past four years, accuses
foreign-based media of pushing a "regime change" agenda
in the country.
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