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The civilised world is extremely alarmed by the heavy-handed manner in which police responded to the lead story of the latest edition of our sister paper, The Sunday Mail. The story said a syndicate of some police officers, ZimParks officials and Asians was responsible for the recent poisoning of 22 elephants by cyanide at Hwange National Park. A number of people have been arrested in connection with the carnage, The Sunday Mail said, adding that an assistant commissioner of police was being investigated for possible involvement in the syndicate.
It is a fairly detailed piece in which the journalists demonstrate that they have names of the local kingpins of the scam and their Asian accomplices and specific numbers of men deployed to watering holes and what happened later under their watch. The paper doesn’t name the ringleaders and their foreign accessories. To us, and no doubt to most readers of the weekend story, this was a sincere piece, judiciously put together by a team of journalists who are committed to collaborating with police in fighting crime, protecting our natural environment and help ensure that our wildlife benefits the economy, not the underworld.
However, tables were turned on the scribes, most unlikely by police themselves, who many of us expected to have taken the story as a “tip-off from a member of the public.”
The Sunday Mail editor, Mabasa Sasa, investigations editor, Brain Chitemba and reporter, Tinashe Farawo were arrested on Monday and have been charged under sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for “publishing false statements prejudicial to the State” and that have the effect of “adversely affecting the economic interests of Zimbabwe.” We have profound respect for our police. Our record speaks for itself, but their iron-fisted response to the weekend revelation is saddening in many ways.
It constitutes a flagrant attack on Press freedom, rather on the Constitution itself, sections 61 and 62. Police are sworn to upholding that supreme document and Zimbabweans don’t expect the force to do the opposite. In the same vein, we find it strange that police also demanded to know who the sources of the story were. The trio refused to disclose them. If they had done so, they would have committed not only a grave ethical crime but also offended the Constitution which guarantees their professional freedom and enjoins them to protect their sources of information.
We are sure police are aware that their actions violate the Constitution but the agenda smacks of an attempt to humiliate, silence and intimidate. Now we, as every right-thinking Zimbabwean out there, are getting reasonably suspicious. We are wondering what the police chiefs are trying to hide. Is it really that they think that their investigations have been jeopardised or some bosses in the force feel that they are being exposed for involvement in the crime?
There are a few cases in which editors across the board have used their discretion in the interests of fighting crime and collaborated with police to ensure that the latter’s investigations are not disrupted by publication of certain sensitive stories. If police thought that publication of The Sunday Mail story had potential to do the same, we believe their spokesperson; Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba could have professionally requested Sasa to hold the story a bit for investigations to proceed undisturbed.
Far from the police allegation that The Sunday Mail story was a “falsehood” that is “prejudicial to the State” and could adversely affect the “economic interests of Zimbabwe,” we now suspect that the story is actually true, prejudicial not to the State but to certain powerful, corrupt individuals, possibly in the force and in fact, not harmful to national economic interests, but to criminal business interests of a few. On its own, the story does nothing to tarnish the image of the police, but the police, in their disproportionate response to it, tarnished their own image.
To further betray what we argue is an attempt to humiliate, intimidate and silence, it was reported, that contrary to the norm, the investigating officer did not promptly record the warned and cautioned statements from the trio. He said he doesn’t do that after 4.30pm but, as a matter of fact, an investigating officer can take such statements any time when called upon to do so.
However, in this instance, the motive was apparently to ensure that the journalists spend more time experiencing the pain of staying in police cells.
In a statement on Tuesday Snr Asst Comm Charamba said:
“The editor of The Sunday Mail and journalists can’t be allowed to hide behind the privilege of journalism to peddle falsehoods. The Sunday Mail story is actually meant to overshadow the efforts made by the police in arresting suspects or perpetrators of these heinous acts. The ZRP respects the watchdog role of the media play in society, but we believe this role should not be abused be peddling falsehoods.”
Law abiding Zimbabweans appreciate her weekend confirmation that a few suspects had been arrested in the latest cyanide attack and investigations are continuing. However, the language in the statement is needlessly opinionated and vengeful, the sort that is associated with informal, political or academic debates. We await communication from police identifying the specific falsehoods in The Sunday Mail story and providing the correct information. But even then, their actions on Monday stand condemned.
Online Reporter