The Zimbabwe Republic Police have charged the  Sunday editor Mabasa Sasa,  and his two reporters Tinashe Farawo and Brian Chitemba with contravening Section 31 (a) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) for allegedly publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State.
According to their lawyer, Tuesday, the journalists are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
The scribes were arrested on Monday after they had published in the weekly a story which fingered top police in the killing of elephants at Hwange National Park.
The police claimed that the journalists published or communicated false statements with the intention or realising that there is a real risk or possibility of adversely affecting the defence or economic interests of Zimbabwe.
THE Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef) acting chairperson Njabulo Ncube condemned the arrests saying they are barbaric.
“We urge the police to investigate and not to arrest in order to investigate. It is unhelpful and smacks of repression to arrest editors and journalists on issues that are not criminal but is part of their legitimate work, in this particular case, to expose the rot in our society,” said Ncube.
“The police must not cover up for its failures to protect Zimbabwe’s wildlife by threatening the media”.
“There are better and more civilised ways of dealing with such cases than arresting and detaining journalists, for instance, the police could have lodged a complaint with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, or sought to engage the editor and his staff for the right of reply ostensibly to set the record straight.