The
magistrate of Judicial Court of Barue, District, Manica province of Mozambique
in Southern Africa, Luis Massingue has discharged a journalist of Catandica
Community Multimedia Centre who was
being accused of defamation by both the ministry of public affairs and the
local seed Company.
The
court sentence was read by the judicial Magistrate on the 21st of
May 2013 in Catandica headquarters and took almost one hour seven minutes
discharging all the allegations laid against the Coordinator and Journalist-
John Chekwa.
In
2011 Catandica Community Radio received
a group of 60 peasant farmers complaining about the 2,5 tones of maize seed
which brought losses after casted several times on the fields by these farmers.
Before presenting the issue to the Community Radio the farmers tried by all
means without success inviting the seed supplier. As a way forward they
therefore decided to report these issue to the radio as their godfather. The
Community radio visited the farmers fields and also tried without success to
contact any interview with both the seed company and the district director of
agriculture (SDAE) about these seeds.
On
the 23rd of January 2012, Catandica Community Radio published this
news in its many different forms of
Communication using ICTs like local news
paper, national media and blogspot. Unfortunately this worried the owner of the
seed company and he therefore raised a criminal case against the journalist and
the 60 farmers.
Apart
from the losses faced by the peasant
farmers the seed company was demanding payment of this maize seed on the value
of ninety ‘ five thousand meticais which is roughly equivalent to three
thousand dollars.(U$ 3.000,00)
On
the day of sentence the judicial magistrate- Luis Massingue said that there was
no crime committed by the journalist John Chekwa because he played his duty according
to the press law act 18 of 1991.
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