No arrests three months after ‘The Daily News’ bombing

Exactly three months last Saturday after the printing press of the independent ‘Daily News’ newspaper was bombed, police have not yet arrested any suspects, the newspaper reported on Monday. This was in spite of an undertaking by the government that it would move swiftly to bring the culprits to book, the report said.

The printing press was wrecked on 28 January following a series of verbal threats by Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President’s Office, and Chenjerai Hunzvi, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association. Police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Vudzijena, refused to comment on the matter on Friday. Police experts who waded through the mangled remains of the printing press said as many as four devices packed with high explosives were detonated to cause maximum damage.

Matthew Takaona, President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), called for the investigation to be intensified on Friday. “As a union, we urge the police to increase their efforts in the investigations. Time will never heal the wounds of the bombing incident. Therefore, even if it drags on for years, people will always want to know the culprits. As journalists we are saddened if investigations take long because as long as the culprits are not brought to book, the media fraternity will always live in fear,” he was quoted as saying.