Sunday Mail editor alleges victimisation as brother is arrested

via Sunday Mail editor alleges victimisation as brother is arrested | The Zimbabwean 26 June 2014 by Tawanda Majoni

Edmund Kudzayi, the Sunday Mail editor who is being charged with treason and other offences, yesterday filed a bail application at the High Court, alleging that he was being victimised by politicians who fear he could expose them.

The bail application was made on the same day his brother, Phillip Tawanda, turned himself over to the police on the same charges and is expected in court today.

The Sunday Mail editor, who was arrested last Thursday and made his first court appearance on Saturday when he was remanded in custody, is being charged with attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government or alternatively attempting to commit an act of insurgency, banditry, and sabotage or terrorism.

He is also being accused of undermining the authority of the president over publications he made prior to his appointment at the weekly paper in April this year.

In the application, the 28-year old Edmund denied that he is Baba Jukwa, the sensational Facebook character that revealed grim developments and activities within Zanu (PF) ahead of last year’s general elections.

He accused the police and unnamed politicians of trying to impress President Robert Mugabe by making up the charges against him.

Mugabe recently indirectly attacked the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Jonathan Moyo, for employing journalists who used to be hostile to him and the party.

“These allegations are not only laughable, but a clear abuse of the criminal justice system by those in the corridors of power who are afraid that I can use my technological expertise to expose those who actually supplied the real Baba Jukwa with blow-by-blow details of sensitive meetings within Zanu (PF) and the Zimbabwean Government and also the people behind it,” Edmund said.

“This is clearly a trial and error by the State in seeking to resolve the Baba Jukwa mystery. The State is just stabbing in the dark hoping along the way as they arrest innocent people like (me) and victimising the same, they would get the real Baba Jukwa. This is a clear lie. I am not Baba Jukwa at all,” added Edmund in his affidavit.

Edmund, who helped in the Zanu (PF) commissariat before and during the 2013 elections, said he had worked with the military and police to expose the real Baba Jukwa, only for investigators to turn around and use the evidence he supplied to arrest him.

In the affidavit, he refutes the State claim that the Baba Jukwa Gmail account was not hacked and said he was being targeted by some politicians because he had been given an influential position as the Sunday Mail editor.

“I was really assisting the Ministry of Defence and I have been taken back by this backstabbing by the State, yet I was trying to resolve the mystery with them through the ministry of defence and police, law and order section (sic),” wrote Edmund.

He said Environment Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, invited him to help with technical skills to unpack Baba Jukwa, after which he was introduced to Jonathan Moyo.

The Sunday Mail editor also denied working with military outfits—Gunda Nleya Brigade and the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army that Baba Jukwa claimed had been set up–to topple the government.

He offered to pay $2,000 bail money and suggested tringent bail conditions that included house arrest.

Police admitted arresting Phillip, a consulting engineer with Dick and Kunaka Engineers, who surrendered himself to the police in the company of his lawyer, Admire Rubaya.

He faces the same charges as Edmund.