This week’s polls spilled into second day voting after thousands of Zimbabweans woke up to some polling stations without ballot papers.

Fin claims efforts to initiate an internal audit in November 2024 were blocked when Wilderness responded with a “cease and desist” notice.

Nyathi is the editor-in-chief of AMH, and Zaba is the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, the leading business weekly.

But the magistrate ruled in favour of the state, saying the matter was still less than six months old and the prosecution had shown some effort to set the matter down. 

Prosecutors allege the article was false, targeted the President and was intended to engender hostility towards him, a claim the defence has dismissed as unfounded and unconstitutional.