Councillor Mukwazhe filed a complaint with VMCZ over an article published in The Sun entitled “Mtapa Councillor’s Kombi set on Fire” published on 28 January 2011. The newspaper alleged that the Kombi was set on fire in a suspected love triangle.
The councillor denied the allegations arguing that the Kombi just caught fire when he was parked outside his in-laws place. The councillor demanded an apology from the newspaper.
The VMCZ Media Complaints Committee after hearing the matter on 28 March 2011 ruled that the paper had violated Article 4 (a) and 5 (b) of the Code.
Section 4(a) states that “Media practitioners and media institutions must never publish information that they know to be false or maliciously make unfounded allegations about others that are intended to harm their reputation”.
Section 5 (b) says, “If a media institution discovers that it has published an erroneous report that has caused harm to the reputation of a person or institution, it must publish an apology promptly and with due prominence”.
STATUS: FINALISED
The MCC ruled that The Sun must publish, on the front page of its next edition, an apology in which it states that the allegations contained in its edition of 28 January 2011 that Councillor Mukwazhe was engaged in an adulterous extra-marital affair are false and it apologises to the Councillor. The Sun carried a retraction and an apology to Councillor Mukwazhe in its next edition
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