ALPHA Media Holdings (AMH) has challenged its placement on remand on charges of undermining the authority of or insulting President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
AMH, which was being represented by its Editor-in-Chief Kholwani Nyathi, appeared before magistrate Ruth Moyo yesterday.
The company is accused of undermining the authority of or insulting Mnangagwa, through its Muckraker column in a recent edition of the Zimbabwe Independent.
The company, represented by Chris Mhike, challenged placement on remand saying the facts of the charges do not disclose an offence.
Police laid charges against AMH a week after the arrest of Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba on similar charges.
Zaba was released on bail last week.
Yesterday, Mhike submitted that freedom of the media and expression obviates the need to arrest those who express an opinion.
He said the arrest amounted to a restriction on the right of access to information, adding that amounted to violation of the principle of democracy.
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“Journalism is not a crime, placing the company on remand means criminalisation of journalism,” Mhike argued.
“One consenting to placement on remand that means you’re admitting to committing the offence.”
Mhike said no witnesses were proffered by the State, saying the alleged facts provided by the prosecution did not disclose an offence.
The lawyer said the claim of insulting Mnangagwa when the article refers to “we” does not hold water.
“The President is on record saying we are Sadc chairperson, so how can the State say it is the President of Zimbabwe being referred to?” Mhike asked.
Appearing for the State, Takudzwa Jambawo said the article in question referred to Mnangagwa.
“It is common cause that the current Sadc chairperson is our President and these are the facts the State referred to as insults,” he said.
“There is reasonable suspicion that they committed an offence and it is not disputed that these words are there in the article.”
Jambawo said the unlawfulness being submitted by lawyers is a defence and will be determined by the court in trial.
Moyo postponed the matter to today for ruling on placement on remand.
Allegations are that AMH, through the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper edition of June 27, 2025 to 3 July 2025, published an article titled When you become mafia State intending to undermine authority of the President.
“In less than two months, our one year rotating chairmanship of Sadc comes to an end and we hope it is not just Muckraker, who has not seen any value that our time in that important role has added to the regional bloc apart from just confirming the obvious fears that Sadc is a mere trade union of dictators,” the article read in part.
“In the few months that we have been in that role, we have been implicated in the chaos that has rocked most neighbouring countries. We were implicated in the massive vote rigging in Mozambican elections — with proof that our people actually voted for Daniel Chapo in an election whose disputed outcome resulted in the death of hundreds of people.
“We were also fingered in the elections in Botswana and Namibia, where our electoral rigging machinery was heavily deployed.
“When you have become a mafia State and are known to arm fellow criminals from around the globe with your diplomatic passports, it has become very hard to stop your people from believing just anything.
“There is certainly no doubt who is micro-managing this Chapo chap, so there is not even any need to wonder what our Owner thought when his boy was addressing a virtually empty stadium.”
The State alleged that the accused attached a photograph of Mnangagwa and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo.
The State alleges that the article was false in material and was designed to engender feelings of hostility towards Mnangagwa.
AMH are the publishers of NewsDay, Zimbabwe Independent, The Standard and Southern Eye as well as proprietors of HStv.
