NEWSDAY senior reporter Blessed Mhlanga will today appear
in court facing charges of assaulting former Finance deputy minister Terence
Mukupe during a radio show last May.
The State alleges that on May 24 at SpotFM studios at
Pockets Hill in Harare, Mhlanga assaulted the deputy minister by pushing him
with open hands and pulling his jacket intending to cause bodily harm.
Mhlanga’s lawyer, Chris Mhike confirmed that he had received
summons from the police on behalf of his client, with the State demanding the
appearance of Mhlanga in court on May 13, almost a year after the alleged assault.
“The dark days of naked repression and persecution of the
Press are back. The tragedy emanating from the strange prosecution of this
journalist is heightened by the fact that the summons were delivered only a few
days after this year’s Press Freedom Day,” Mhike said.
He asked rhetorically why the police would need a whole
year to investigate an assault that allegedly took place inside a State-owned
radio studio.
Mhike said he will raise these and other pertinent issues
relating to the case before the courts on Monday.
In letters previously addressed to the Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP), Mhlanga’s legal team raised concern over the constitutionality of
the State’s handling of Mukupe’s allegations, and the subsequent arrest of the journalist.
“As far as we’re concerned, Mhlanga and his wife are the
real victims of Mukupe’s actions in that studio last year,” Mhike said.
The State is yet to serve the accused’s legal team with
papers. Last year, during a live radio interview Mukupe, in the
company of his two bodyguards, allegedly assaulted Mhlanga and stole his wife’s
cellphone.
Mukupe was unhappy over a story published by NewsDay, where
he was captured on camera, saying the army had forcibly grabbed power from
former President Robert Mugabe in a coup in 2017, in an effort to block opposition leader Nelson Chamisa from
taking leadership of the country.
Mhlanga then reported the assault and theft of property by
Mukupe, then Harare East legislator to the ZRP at Highlands, but the police
have taken a year to investigate the matter and have instead charged the victims.
Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe has expressed
its support for the journalist. Newsday
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