Suspicious Calls Force Newspaper Staff to Vacate Offices
WASHINGTON DC —
Staff members at the privately-owned The Zimbabwean newspaper went into hiding Monday following suspicious phone calls to news editor Tawanda Majoni.
Media alerts also say that suspicious-looking people were seen around their offices resulting in them deserting their offices out of fear.
Majoni told VOA Studio 7 that a suspicious caller demanded to talk to a reporter who wrote a story the newspaper published last week about the Zimbabwe national defence forces commander Constantine Chiwenga allegedly agreeing to rein-in a senior Central Intelligence Organization operative based in Mutare.
Majoni said the caller wanted to meet the reporter either at the Jameson Hotel in Harare or at their offices alleging he wanted to give them more information on the story.
The caller, who identified himself as Moyo, refused to give him the details over the phone.
Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe chapter and the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, ZUJ have both released media alerts over the issue.
ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi said their lawyers are on stand-by just in case.
