Tapiwa Chitaka Vs Manica Post 31 Aug 2016

The VMCZ Media Complaints Committee received a complaint from Tapiwa Chitaka over an article published by the Manica Post on 19th-25th August 2016 headlined, “Court bars nuisance revelers”.

The complainant was aggrieved as he argued that it was not “fair” for Mr. Abel Zhakata, who allegedly owns Villa Spot night club and was employed by the Manica Post, to use the newspaper to fight his personal wars.

Chitaka said that Mr. Zhakata  falsely  referred to him (Chitaka) and his friends as a nuisance, drug and substance abusers. He also added that he has a strained relationship with Mr. Zhakata and accused the latter of instigating violence between the two parties.

He was therefore demanding a correction and apology from the Manica Post or Mr Zhakata. He also demanded that Mr. Zhakata must not abuse the facilities of the Manica Post to fight personal wars.

Status: Finalised

The editor in his response noted that the article was based on a court record where the proprietor of Villa Spot, Mr Abel Zhakata applied for an order to bar Chitaka and his crew from visiting his business premises. He therefore argued that the matter was never influenced by Mr Zhakata’s employment at the Manica Post because court records are of public consumption and have been used by the newspaper on numerous occasions to do stories.

The editor also elaborated that a provisional order barring Chitaka had been granted in a public court at Mutare Civil Court and it was the newspaper’s duty to publish the story for the benefit of the public as the cited respondents had became a nuisance at Villa Spot. The editor further noted that according to the court papers and a police report made against Chitaka and his colleagues, they had disturbed other revellers’ peace through their unruly behavior and that this happened in the public domain and had nothing to do with Mr Zhakata’s alleged use of the paper to fight personal wars.

The editor concluded by highlighting that it is the paper’s policy to follow court cases to their logical conclusion in line with journalistic tenets and the media code of conduct.