Zimbabwean Daily News editor, Nqobile Nyathi, was arrested and charged under the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) on Thursday, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) reported on Friday.
Misa spokesperson Eva Johnsen said Nyathi was arrested for publishing adverts that supposedly insulted President Robert Mugabe. The adverts were placed in the Daily News by the Opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC).
They showed a cartoon Mugabe being chased by a crowd. The wording of the advert was: ”Do you recognise him: Thief! Thief! Thief!”
The advert goes on to say: ”Yes of course we recognise him. We recognise him as the senile who stole your voice in March 2002. We recognise him as the father of the militia who murder and rape civilians and women. We recognise him as a plunderer of our national resources, pensions and all. Yes, we recognise him as the one denying us the right to express ourselves. Action for national survival.”
Johnsen said Nyathi on Friday confirmed that she had been summoned to Harare Central Police Station.
Nyathi was quoted as saying: ”I was charged under Posa and they were referring to advertisements that appeared from the 16th to the 19th of May. I was made to sign a warned and cautioned statement and they said they are still investigating the case.”
Nyathi became the third senior newsperson to be charged under Posa. On June 11, Francis Mdlongwa, editor in chief of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the publishers of Daily News, was charged with publishing a false advertisement when he was still an editor at the Financial Gazette in 2002.
Bill Saidi, the editor of Daily News, was also charged on June 24 for allegedly publishing a false story in 2002. – Sapa