ALPHA Media Holdings (AMH) editors were yesterday remanded to October 31 for trial commencement on a charge of undermining the President.
The charge against Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba and editor-in-chief Kholwani Nyathi emanated from a satirical Muckraker column titled When you become a mafia State.
It was published in the Zimbabwe Independent June 27–July 3, 2025 edition.
The column criticised the country’s leadership during its rotational chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), pointing out allegations of Zimbabwe’s involvement in electoral fraud in Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia.
The article carried the images of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Mozambican counterpart Daniel Chapo.
It further claimed Zimbabwe had become a “mafia State” governed by a leadership “obsessed with clinging to power through political chicanery”.
Keep Reading
- Masunda lands global sugar industry position
- In Conversation with Trevor: Chisamba: Let’s be proud of ourselves
- In Conversation with Trevor : How car crash changed my life
- In Conversation With Trevor: ‘We lost our humanity’
The State alleges that the article was “false in material particulars” and intended to provoke hostility against Mnangagwa.
Zaba was released on US$200 bail after a three-day detention at the Harare Central Police Station cells and Chikurubi Female Prison.
Her release was delayed by a power outage that prevented the magistrate from typing a bail ruling.
She was ordered to surrender her passport, reside at her given address, avoid interfering with investigations and report weekly to the CID Law and Order division at Harare Central Police Station.
AMH are the publishers of NewsDay, Zimbabwe Independent, Southern Eye, The Standard and also runs the online Heart & Soul TV.