Zimpapers sued US$100m for Baba Jukwa claims

This is the avatar that has been widely used to represent Baba Jukwa on various social media platforms.

TWO journalists earlier suspected of running the Baba Jukwa Facebook page are filing a US$100 million defamation lawsuit against the State media and New Zimbabwe.com after they carried reports linking them to the faceless internet mole. A Harare lawyer representing the two scribes, Obert Gutu, revealed this week that Mxolisi Ncube and Mkhululi Chimoi “have been vindicated” by the sudden turn of events, which he said indirectly helped prove their innocence.

The arrest of The Sunday Mail editor, Edmund Kudzayi on June 19 added a fresh twist to the mystery over the identity of Baba Jukwa, as authorities are linking the youthful newspaper gatekeeper to the rabble-rousing Facebook page that gained notoriety last year for dishing out ZANU-PF secrets. Kudzayi, who is being accused of operating the Baba Jukwa Facebook page which has over 400 000 followers, has been formally charged of insurgency, terrorism and an attempt to unseat a constitutionally elected government.

By his own admission, Kudzayi, in an article written earlier this month, has said he was behind the Amai Jukwa character which was given, since February 2013, acres of space in the daily Herald and on New Zimbabwe.com as a columnist. His admission alone is likely to open Kudzayi (Mai Jukwa) to an avalanche of lawsuits from those that the pseudo character went after just as those who were demonised by Baba Jukwa are baying for that character’s blood.

The Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited (Zimpapers), as the publishers of the State daily The Herald, along with New Zimbabwe.com, will also suffer the collateral damage. At the time of going to print, there were also indications that even the Charles Utete-led Zimpapers board could be taken to task for opening the business to potential liability.

It is, however, now left in the hands of authorities to prove how Kudzayi was running both characters whose content under Amai Jukwa was singing praises for the ruling party and yet under Baba Jukwa was a thorn in the backside of the powers-that-be. With the court’s eye now on Kudzayi, South African-based journalists, Ncube and Chimoi, are not walking away without putting up a fight against Zimpapers, publishers of several titles, among them The Herald and The Sunday Mail and the United Kingdom-based New Zimbabwe.com.

“The amount of the lawsuit is US$100 million,” Gutu said. “Because The Herald and The Sunday Mail are published by same publisher, we will sue the editor of The Herald, the editor of The Sunday Mail and Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited which are their publishers…they will be sued jointly and severally, the one paying the other to be absolved.”

In addition to the multi-million dollar lawsuit, Ncube and Chimoi are also demanding retractions and apologies to be carried out by the three publications. “As for the United Kingdom-based New Zimbabwe.com, which we have since established is operating from Birmingham, we have liaised with a firm of solicitors in the UK to institute legal action on our behalf against the editor of New Zimbabwe.com and its publishers,” said Gutu.

A letter of demand is set to be hand delivered to Herald House with the same delivered to New Zimbabwe.com’s base in the UK.  “The letters of demand are now ready and we will be handing these over to Zimpapers. I am just waiting for the go ahead from my clients to hand deliver these and we will demand for a retraction of the stories to be made within seven days of receipt of the letter,” said Gutu.

“In addition to the lawsuit, we will be demanding an apology as the story has done damage to their reputation and ability to discharge their duties as journalists in their profession.”

Gutu also alleged that his clients were now living in fear and do not even know why they were targeted and identified as Baba Jukwa. “My clients live in fear while in South Africa and are fearful of returning back home as a result of the claims levelled against them. The latest developments around this issue are a clear sign that they had nothing to do with Baba Jukwa and more explosive details are likely to emerge.”

In a written affidavit, the investigating officer in the case against Kudzayi, Crispen Makedenge, said their own investigations into the matter had revealed that The Sunday Mail editor was the one in control of the Baba Jukwa Gmail account. “His details were on the recovery panel of the said account, that is, his e-mail address …furthermore investigations revealed that the account was never hacked into,” said Makedenge.

Authorities have been bamboozled as they attempted since last year to find the person or persons behind the hugely popular Baba Jukwa Facebook page which has a cult-like following.  Its popularity was catapulted by juicy details of infighting in the ruling party and claims of corruption against senior party officials — revelations which rattled ZANU-PF’s rank and file.

President Robert Mugabe recently castigated what he called divisive characters in his ruling party whom he accused of demonising other ZANU-PF members. While Mai Jukwa (Kudzayi) was by and large supportive of ZANU-PF, he raffled feathers by attacking certain members of the same party, creating the impression that he harboured factional interests.

Those who have come to Mai Jukwa’s defence by claiming he was behind ZANU-PF’s resounding win in the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections have been taken to task by those in the know and had remained silent ever since the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC)’s crushing defeat. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a ZANU-PF insider said it was wrong to give credit to one person or a group of individuals when it was as clear as daylight that the party’s victory was a collective effort.

“The word team itself stands for ‘together each achieves more,’ which meaning is vindicated by the fact that it would not be Mai Jukwa alone who delivered victory; there were a lot other people who worked behind the scenes to achieve that thunderous win. Like a war machine, ZANU-PF had strategists whose role was to come up with a message. They were those responsible for logistics; they were collaborators and above all, there was the party itself led by an effective, tried and tested leader, President Mugabe as well as the candidates themselves whose stature and appeal received endorsement from the electorate,” said the party insider.

“You could not have put a donkey with good strategies and expect to win without funding; without collaborators and without other supportive infrastructure and a leader of President Mugabe’s stature and expect to win. So it is a misnomer to give credit to one individual or a group of individuals. Among the institutions that that also played an important role in last year’s elections were the police, the Central Intelligence Organisation and the defence arms of the State that ensured that the elections were peaceful. So for anyone or any group of people to singularly claim credit for that victory is to stretch the minds of ‘simple’ people in the party too far. Let us also not forget that some of these so-called Lionel Messis and Cristiano Ronaldos were actually paid for the work they did. It is also claimed that it is the same team that came up with the Zim-Asset economic blueprint, which is struggling to deliver the goods. Are we therefore going to hear the same team taking responsibility just like they are taking credit for ZANU-PF’s win? This is typical of the saying that says success has many fathers, mothers and cousins and yet failure is an orphan,” he added.

Investigations by the Financial Gazette revealed that more twists and turns could be in the offing. For instance, more suspects could be picked up for questioning in the coming weeks. The editor of The Chronicle, Mduduzi Mathuthu could also face the music for commenting on issues that are before the courts after he penned an opinion piece perceived to have been meant to influence the court’s decisions.

In terms of the law, citizens are not allowed to comment or debate on issues that are before the courts as that is deemed to be subjudice.
E-mails also seen by this newspaper also go to town about the possible bank and bank account number that could have been used by people who were bankrolling the Facebook character.

Stoking up further mystery is that Baba Jukwa has continued to post on his Facebook account, even while Kudzayi, the suspect, was behind bars. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has declined to comment on the matter saying it would be subjudice to do so since the case is now before the courts.

“At this stage it would be subjudice for me to comment as the matter is before the courts. All of that is being looked at by the courts and we are continuing with our investigations,” said Charity Charamba, the national spokesperson for the ZRP.

Meanwhile, information is abound that some high-ranking ZANU-PF and government officials, with support of certain strategic offices in the country’s critical sectors of statecraft, are working 24/7 behind the scenes to try and assist Kudzayi’s defence outline with rehearsals on paper about possible police and prosecutor questions to expect and the responses he should give.

Curiously, there are attempts to rope in an arm of the State randomly referred to as MOD in the defence outline seen by this paper. It, however, could not be ascertained which ministry was being referred to as MOD. But should this come to pass, it presents a unique and interesting perspective to the case which is supposed to unite rather than divide the country’s security, law enforcement and defence sectors. One of the several e-mails and plan papers seen by this paper reads like a soap opera.

One of the e-mails anticipates questions that could be asked by the police and prosecutors and attempts to give responses to these. Another entitled “Edmund Kudzayi: the back story,” outlines the charges and possible responses, concluding by saying “the charges brought against The Sunday Mail editor Kudzayi don’t add up. In fact, it says the charges border on the ridiculous and goes on to analyse the charge sheet and how Kudzayi is supposed to respond.

It is quite clear that a lot is going on behind the scenes in what could be a mirror image of the war days when there were those at the war front; those who played the role of collaborators to the cause; the brains or strategists behind all the operations and those who provided logistical support and funding all coming into a web of bizarre intentions.

What is, however, certain is that whoever collaborated with the shadowy figure of Baba Jukwa and Mai Jukwa are having sleepless nights. While there is no longer argument as to who is Mai Jukwa and the jury is still out as to who is Baba Jukwa, it is also clear that those who feel they were injured by these characters would be queuing at the courts for redress.

newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw