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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono faces yet another court battle after the country’s Prosecutor-General, Kumbirai Hodzi, filed an application for the rescission of his recent acquittal by the high court on charges of publishing falsehoods.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono was acquitted because the law used to prosecute him had been removed by the Constitutional Court and “no longer exists”, but Hodzi wants to resurrect the case and have the court reconsider its verdict.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-921746\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fazila-Chin-court-inset.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1169\" height=\"1461\" />“We have opposed the Prosecutor-General’s application and now await to hear what the high court will say, but we don’t think it has merit and there can’t be any other view save for the fact that section 31 is no longer part of Zimbabwean law,” Chin’ono’s lawyer Paidamoyo Saurombe told </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prosecutor-General’s application for rescission comes barely a fortnight after Chin’ono’s acquittal. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his papers to the high court, the Prosecutor-General argues that the State was supposed to have filed opposing papers to Chin’ono’s review application in which the award-winning journalist was seeking to have the matter set aside because he was charged under a “non-existent law”.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hodzi argues that section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State” is still part of Zimbabwe’s law and as such he is seeking that the order issued by Justice Jester Charehwa acquitting Chin’ono be reversed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The documentary filmmaker was arrested in January 2021 for posting on his Twitter account that a young child had been beaten to death by police officers at a taxi rank. The child was on its mother’s back at the time.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In court, Chin’ono’s lawyers argued that the law under which he was charged had been expunged by the Constitutional Court in 2014. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beleaguered journalist was denied bail and placed on remand for at least 20 days. </span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-919548\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fazila-Hopewell-notover-option-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" /> Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono arrives at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on 5 November 2020. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono filed a review application with the high court, but the State did not file opposing papers and the matter was heard without the State as part of the proceedings. Justice Charehwa upheld Chin’ono’s application.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After his acquittal, Chin’ono instructed his lawyers to sue the State for arresting him under a “non-existent law”. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The order by the High Court remains intact and will not be compromised by the Prosecutor-General’s challenge. We are, however, finalising our paperwork to sue the State for unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and detention of our client,” said Chin’ono’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono is also being sued by advocate Tinomudaishe Chinyoka.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’m suing Chin’ono because soon after he came out from prison he said I was in support of the law that was used to prosecute him and that I am a Zanu-PF surrogate sent to defend the use of a law that doesn’t exist,” said Chinyoka.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is claiming $50,000 for defamation and associated damages to his reputation caused by Chin’ono’s tweet.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Chinyoka’s claim, the tweet, posted on 29 April 2021 read:</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When @advocatemahere, @JobSikhala1 & myself [Chin’ono] were arrested, the world saw what it means to have a degree & yet be empty. Zanu PF sent its surrogates like Bright Matonga, Obert Gutu & Tino Chinyoka to defend the use of a law that doesn’t exist. It was ignorance & stomach politics.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tweet has been </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Ndoga/status/1387675254957514753\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">deleted from Chin’ono’s account, but the comments remain.</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinyoka, however, supported the high court decision to acquit Chin’ono: “Speech should never be the business of criminal law and the Prosecutor-General’s application for rescission is as ill-advised as was the initial prosecution, which shouldn’t have ever happened.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono has </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-02-zimbabwean-journalist-hopewell-chinono-wins-court-battle-but-not-yet-the-war/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">two other pending cases before the courts</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in which he is accused of “incitement to commit public violence” during planned anti-government protests in July 2020 and “contempt of court” after he allegedly flouted his bail conditions. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"description": "<p data-sourcepos=\"1:1-1:56\">Sure, here is a 250-word summary on ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe:</p>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"3:1-3:425\">The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) is a political party that has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was founded in 1963 by Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe, and Herbert Chitepo, as a nationalist movement fighting against white minority rule in Rhodesia. ZANU-PF won the 1980 elections and Mugabe became prime minister. He was later elected president in 1987.</p>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"5:1-5:235\">ZANU-PF has been criticised for its authoritarian rule, human rights abuses, and corruption. However, the party remains popular among many Zimbabweans, who see it as the party that brought independence and majority rule to the country.</p>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"7:1-7:264\">In the 2017 coup d'état, Robert Mugabe was removed as president and Emmerson Mnangagwa was installed as the new president. Mnangagwa is a former party official who was once Mugabe's right-hand man. He has promised to reform the party and make it more democratic.</p>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:208\">However, ZANU-PF remains the dominant political force in Zimbabwe. The party won the 2018 elections and Mnangagwa was re-elected president. The party is expected to remain in power for the foreseeable future.</p>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"11:1-11:58\">Here are some of the key events in the history of ZANU-PF:</p>\r\n\r\n<ul data-sourcepos=\"13:1-21:0\">\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"13:1-13:82\">1963: ZANU is founded by Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe, and Herbert Chitepo.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"14:1-14:82\">1975: ZANU splits into two factions, one led by Mugabe and the other by Sithole.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"15:1-15:95\">1979: ZANU and ZAPU sign the Lancaster House Agreement, which paves the way for independence.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"16:1-16:93\">1980: ZANU-PF wins the first post-independence elections and Mugabe becomes prime minister.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"17:1-17:59\">1987: ZANU-PF and ZAPU merge to form the Patriotic Front.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"18:1-18:36\">1987: Mugabe is elected president.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"19:1-19:56\">2017: Mugabe is removed as president in a coup d'état.</li>\r\n \t<li data-sourcepos=\"20:1-21:0\">2018: Emmerson Mnangagwa is elected president.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p data-sourcepos=\"22:1-22:256\">ZANU-PF is a complex and controversial party. It has been responsible for both great achievements and great failures. The party's future is uncertain, but it is clear that it will continue to play a major role in Zimbabwean politics for many years to come.</p>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono faces yet another court battle after the country’s Prosecutor-General, Kumbirai Hodzi, filed an application for the rescission of his recent acquittal by the high court on charges of publishing falsehoods.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono was acquitted because the law used to prosecute him had been removed by the Constitutional Court and “no longer exists”, but Hodzi wants to resurrect the case and have the court reconsider its verdict.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-921746\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fazila-Chin-court-inset.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1169\" height=\"1461\" />“We have opposed the Prosecutor-General’s application and now await to hear what the high court will say, but we don’t think it has merit and there can’t be any other view save for the fact that section 31 is no longer part of Zimbabwean law,” Chin’ono’s lawyer Paidamoyo Saurombe told </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prosecutor-General’s application for rescission comes barely a fortnight after Chin’ono’s acquittal. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his papers to the high court, the Prosecutor-General argues that the State was supposed to have filed opposing papers to Chin’ono’s review application in which the award-winning journalist was seeking to have the matter set aside because he was charged under a “non-existent law”.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hodzi argues that section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State” is still part of Zimbabwe’s law and as such he is seeking that the order issued by Justice Jester Charehwa acquitting Chin’ono be reversed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The documentary filmmaker was arrested in January 2021 for posting on his Twitter account that a young child had been beaten to death by police officers at a taxi rank. The child was on its mother’s back at the time.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In court, Chin’ono’s lawyers argued that the law under which he was charged had been expunged by the Constitutional Court in 2014. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beleaguered journalist was denied bail and placed on remand for at least 20 days. </span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_919548\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-919548\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fazila-Hopewell-notover-option-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" /> Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono arrives at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on 5 November 2020. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono filed a review application with the high court, but the State did not file opposing papers and the matter was heard without the State as part of the proceedings. Justice Charehwa upheld Chin’ono’s application.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After his acquittal, Chin’ono instructed his lawyers to sue the State for arresting him under a “non-existent law”. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The order by the High Court remains intact and will not be compromised by the Prosecutor-General’s challenge. We are, however, finalising our paperwork to sue the State for unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and detention of our client,” said Chin’ono’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono is also being sued by advocate Tinomudaishe Chinyoka.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’m suing Chin’ono because soon after he came out from prison he said I was in support of the law that was used to prosecute him and that I am a Zanu-PF surrogate sent to defend the use of a law that doesn’t exist,” said Chinyoka.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is claiming $50,000 for defamation and associated damages to his reputation caused by Chin’ono’s tweet.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Chinyoka’s claim, the tweet, posted on 29 April 2021 read:</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When @advocatemahere, @JobSikhala1 & myself [Chin’ono] were arrested, the world saw what it means to have a degree & yet be empty. Zanu PF sent its surrogates like Bright Matonga, Obert Gutu & Tino Chinyoka to defend the use of a law that doesn’t exist. It was ignorance & stomach politics.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tweet has been </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Ndoga/status/1387675254957514753\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">deleted from Chin’ono’s account, but the comments remain.</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinyoka, however, supported the high court decision to acquit Chin’ono: “Speech should never be the business of criminal law and the Prosecutor-General’s application for rescission is as ill-advised as was the initial prosecution, which shouldn’t have ever happened.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chin’ono has </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-02-zimbabwean-journalist-hopewell-chinono-wins-court-battle-but-not-yet-the-war/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">two other pending cases before the courts</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in which he is accused of “incitement to commit public violence” during planned anti-government protests in July 2020 and “contempt of court” after he allegedly flouted his bail conditions. </span><b>DM</b>",
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“We have opposed the Prosecutor-General’s application and now await to hear what the high court will say, but we don’t think it has merit and there can’t be any other view save for the fact that section 31 is no longer part of Zimbabwean law,” Chin’ono’s lawyer Paidamoyo Saurombe told Daily Maverick.
Freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono arrives at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on 5 November 2020. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Aaron Ufumeli)