By Own Correspondent| The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) (Sunday) detained Deutsche Welle correspondent, Columbus Mavhunga for covering an exercise where the forces and Harare City Council (HCC) were removing defiant vendors off the streets.

Mavhunga was forced into the police truck and forced to escort the ZRP as they went about their operation while at the same time forcing him to delete his footage.

Speaking to ZimEye, Mavhunga narrated how he was picked up at Rezende bus terminus and became part of the 7 truck convoy of police officers who went all over town engaging in running battles with the defiant vendors.

The officers refused to let him go and also do his work.

“I was not charged but they told me that my crime was  filming them as they arrested vendors and confiscated their wares.”

One police officer identified as Donald Bito was adamant that Mavhunga should delete his footage before they could let him go.

Efforts to get a comment from the police were futile by the time of writing.

Police Spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba is on record saying that in the new dispensation, the police would not harass or intimidate journalists but would let them do their work

Speaking at a media workshop organised by MISA Zimbabwe, commissioner Charamba said the harassment of journalists belonged to the Former president Robert Mugabe era.

However, in the new dispensation barely a day after another journalist Sylvester Tapfumanei was assaulted by police officers while covering the operation of removing vendors off the streets of Harare, Mavhunga was harassed and detained for doing his job.