Justice Tawanda Chitapi of the Harare High Court has postponed to Thursday, 6 August 2020, his ruling on bail applications by journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume on Monday.
This means that Chin’ono and Ngarivhume’s two-week detention has been extended by another three days.
Chin’ono and Ngarivhume’s hearings were due to be heard by the High Court last Thursday but were postponed to today.
Both men were arrested a fortnight ago on allegations of inciting public violence after they reportedly used social media to support calls for anti-corruption protests on 31 July.
Chin’ono has been working tirelessly over the past few months to expose corrupt government officials, with the major story being the Draxgate Affair in which the Ministry of Health purchased medical sundries from a controversial company at highly inflated prices.
Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa recently said Chin’ono was not arrested for exposing corruption but for inciting public violence.
However, media analysts believe Chin’ono was targeted for exposing high-level graft and his arrest serves to warn other journalists not to report on corruption by the political elite.