Police are investigating the tampering with of the wheels of a car belonging to the Group Editor of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) — publishers of the Daily News, the Daily News on Sunday and the Weekend Post — Stanley Gama.
A horrified Gama discovered last Friday that his car’s wheel nuts had all been loosened by unknown people while the vehicle was parked in central Harare.
“As soon as I started the car and the vehicle began to move, things didn’t feel alright, and when I disembarked to check what was wrong, it was then that I discovered that all the nuts had been deliberately loosened by someone, for reasons that are not easy to understand,” Gama said.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba confirmed yesterday that the case had been reported and that it was being investigated.
An ANZ spokesperson thanked authorities for the concern that they had showed regarding Gama’s safety, as well as their commitment to leave no stone unturned in their endeavour to get to the bottom of the matter.
“It is quite clear that whoever did this to Stan’s car did not have good intentions. The brazenness of the culprit or culprits behind this barbaric act is also gulling, as the car was tampered with in broad daylight.
“This is why we are very thankful that police have taken the matter seriously and are looking into it,” the spokesperson said.
The worrying incident comes at a time that the Daily News has been spotlighting the ugly factional and succession wars devouring the ruling Zanu PF — with journalists increasingly getting caught up in the fire.
The Daily News also has a long history of enduring victimisation and harassment at the hands of the State, as well as senior Zanu PF and government officials.
The newspaper was violently and unjustly shut down by the government on September 12, 2003 — for nearly eight years — for the crime of telling the long-running Zimbabwean political crisis as it is.
Before that, its multi-million dollar printing press was bombed and completely destroyed in January 2001, in a dastardly act that was widely blamed on State security agents.
Lately, lapdog State media have also ratcheted up their attacks on the newspaper for speaking truth to power — with a senior Cabinet minister this week being exposed for directing his ministry and parastatals falling under his purview not to advertise in the paper.
One of the government agencies that have been so directed is currently splashing double-spread adverts in all newspapers except the Daily News and its sister titles. Daily News
