A REPORTER from the Standard newspaper arrested last Wednesday has been ordered detained for a further seven days after prosecutors appealed a magistrate’s decision to grant him bail on Monday.
Nqobani Ndlovu, 27, is accused of “criminal defamation” over a story published in the weekly paper suggesting police were flouting recruitment procedures by hiring war veterans who would “direct operations” in elections scheduled for next year.
Prosecutors say the claims contained in the story were untrue.
Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa granted the journalist US$100 bail on Monday, but prosecutor Trust Maduma evoked a notorious provision of Section 121 of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act which grants that “a decision by a judge or magistrate to admit a person to bail shall be suspended if immediately after the decision the judge or magistrate is notified that the Attorney General or his representative wishes to appeal against the decision …”
Prosecutors can take up to seven days to file their appeal with the High Court.
Ndlovu’s lawyer Josphat Tshuma said: “I’m very disappointed because he has been denied his freedom. What is left for me is to see how immediate they can file their appeal so that it is ready by the 29th.”