BEITBRIDGE journalist Rex Mphisa has become the latest
victim of police heavy-handedness after he was arrested while covering the
enforcement of the lockdown regulations.
Mphisa, who writes for NewsDay and The Standard, was
arrested together with Zimbabwe Newspapers sales and circulation representative
Charles Marerwa, businessman Thulani Nasha and one Davison Sibanda at a local
butchery on Friday evening.
Police, led by a sergeant identified only as Wafawanaka,
had been outpaced by an amateur photographer, who captured them arresting
suspected female drug dealers using dogs, then turned towards the four who were
part of a large crowd that watched the scene in Dulivhadzimo.
The four were thrown into cells while the drug dealers were
set free in yet unclear circumstances.
Mphisa, Marerwa, Nasha and Sibanda yesterday appeared
before Beitbridge magistrate Anniah Chiweta who remanded them out of custody on
free bail to June 4 for trial.
Their lawyer Jabulani Mzinyathi of Garikai and Company
complained about the inhuman treatment his clients were subjected to despite
that two of them, by virtue of being media practitioners, were internationally
recognised as essential service providers.
“We are in the middle of a serious pandemic and these two
are providing an information bridge to the population of Zimbabwe and the rest
of the world in the fight to contain the Covid-19 pandemic [and] are stopped.
This is unlawful, worse so, when arresting officers struggled to come up with
charges.”
Among other issues, Mzinyathi complained about the
unprofessional approach by Beitbridge police who recently arrested a lawyer who
had gone to see a client who had been picked by police.
Mzinyathi, acting on behalf of the Media Institute of
Southern Africa (Misa), complained about police’s lack of mandatory Covid-19
rules and discipline that include social distancing. Standard
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