Sensitive Data Stolen in Raid on Newsday Offices

SW Radio Africa (London)

Lance Guma

27 April 2011

The daily newspaper, NewsDay, has reported that its offices were broken into Monday evening. A laptop belonging to its editor and several hard drives from computers used by journalists were stolen.

The incident comes six days after army chiefs at the Defence House headquarters in Harare summoned the paper’s senior reporter, Verenanda Langa, to be questioned over a story that General Constantine Chiwenga had been taken ill and airlifted to China for treatment. The army wanted to know her source for the story.

On Monday evening ‘unknown criminals,’ as the paper put it, broke into the offices and stole ‘vital information and data’ contained in the hard drives, including a laptop belonging to the editor Brian Mangwende. Coincidentally the ‘thieves’ also targeted a computer belonging to Langa, the victim of the army inquiry last week.

Other journalists whose computers were targeted include assistant editor Wisdom Mudzungairi, political editor Kelvin Jakachira, sports editor Wellington Toni, chief reporter Owen Gagare, chief business reporter Mernat Mafirakurewa, business reporter Victoria Mtomba and sub editors Sam Mutsvanga and Lillian Chitare.

On Wednesday the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe issued a statement condemning the raid. The group said it was “an attack on the freedom of the press in Zimbabwe” and was “calculated at instilling fear among media personnel in the country.” A total of eleven computers were targeted in the raid and NewsDay believes the idea was to paralyze the production of the paper.

Last year in February ‘unknown people’ broke into the offices of Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu and took away confidential information which the Minister claimed was being used in the media against him. The raid was linked to ZANU PF factional fighting over control of diamonds, with one faction said to control the army and the other controlling the spy agency.

In 2007 one of the faction leaders, Emmerson Mnangagwa, had a laptop, documents and a mobile phone stolen from his office while still Rural Housing and Social Amenities Minister.

The tactic is thought to be widely used by members of the military intelligence.

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