Online Reporter
H-Metro Reporter
H-METRO correspondent Maria Chiguvari was assaulted by bouncers who work for Zimdancehall couple, Hulungende and Malloti, as the duo resisted arrest at the Glamis Arena on Sunday.
Chiguvari was covering the latest edition of Doek & Slay in Harare for all the Zimpapers titles.
She has covered the event in the last two years without any incident until violence caught up with her on Sunday.
“The couple was resisting arrest, following their performance, and when chaos erupted, as a journalist, I started capturing the incident,” Chiguvari said.
“In the process, the bouncers confronted me and demanded that I hand over my gadgets so they could delete the footage.
“They tried to drag me from the scene and, in the process, they tore my clothes all in an effort to try and take my camera and other devices, which I was using.
“In the ensuing struggle, one of the bouncers slapped me.”
She added:“Then, they started demanding that I produce my ZMC card because they said they apparently wanted to establish whether I was a journalist who was covering the incident.”
Robson Sharuko, the Editor of both H-Metro and B-Metro, said what happened to Maria was unacceptable.
“Maria is one of our best all-round journalists because she has good reporting skills and is also an excellent photo-journalist,” he said.
“Attacking a journalist is always unacceptable and it’s even worse when she is a woman.
“We can’t have a society where it is normal for journalists to be bashed for doing their work and Maria did the right thing when she reported the attack to the police.”
Mathew Masinge