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Temba Mliswa

Chief Court Reporter
Two Cabinet ministers have slapped Hurungwe West legislator Cde Temba Mliswa and Alpha Media Holdings, publishers of the NewsDay newspaper, with a combined US$80 million lawsuit for defamation, their lawyer said last night. Mr Jonathan Samukange of Samukange and Venturas said his clients, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo and Environment, Water and Climate Minister Cde Saviour Kasukuwere instructed him to file defamation charges against Cde Mliswa and the NewsDay.

In the claims that were filed separately, Prof Moyo is demanding US$20 million each from Cde Mliswa and NewsDay while Cde Kasukuwere is claiming the same amount from both parties.

The lawsuits came after Cde Mliswa was quoted in NewsDay, in three different articles, denigrating the two Cabinet ministers.
The stories cited were the one on Monday with a headline which read: “Jonathan Moyo is CIA”, while the other one was written on Monday with a headline: “Mliswa labels rivals Gay Gangsters”.

The third story was published yesterday and had a headline: “Mugabe faces Gay Gangsters”.
Mr Samukange said all the quoted articles defamed the two Cabinet ministers, prompting the lawsuits. “The articles were false, defamatory and malicious in the sense that the two are not ‘gay’ and the President could not have possibly appointed them if they were gay,” said Mr Samukange.

“Don’t forget the President regards gays as worse than dogs and pigs. To suggest that these two Cabinet ministers who are also members of the Politburo and Central Committee are gay is seriously insulting and intended to humiliate the two.”