State not yet ready to prosecute Zim Morning Post over Mliswa accusations

HARARE – A bid by Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa to waylay Zim Morning Post with criminal insult charges has been put on hold after the National Prosecuting Authority indicated it is not yet ready to prosecute the matter.

Mliswa accuses Zim Morning Post publisher Elias Mambo and journalist Farayi Machamire of criminally insulting him in a story published in January 2021 after a press conference held by Susan Mutami on her alleged personal disputes with the Norton MP.

The duo had previously been arrested on 14 May 2021, over the same matter.

The Norton MP then re-instituted legal proceedings in September 2022, alleging that the story criminally insulted him. Politicians resort to criminal defamation charges as a means of silencing critics.

The matter had been set for initial appearance at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday but prosecutors told the accused that the State would proceed by way of summons.

Mambo said it was tragic and cowardly of Mliswa to pursue journalists when he should be dealing with the source of his misery – Mutami.

The matter between Zim Morning Post and Mliswa has previously been set down for hearing before MISA who came up with a solution which Mliswa accepted.

However, the Norton MP did not feel that was enough and later instituted criminal legal proceedings.

Curiously, Zim Morning Post was not the only publication that published Ms Susan Mutami’s comments.

Her comments on Mliswa have been carried by mainstream and online media as the pair took their fight onto social media and public spaces.