Armed men raid editor’s home after ‘rest in peace’ error in Mnangagwa advert

HARARE
–
Armed
men
claiming
to
be
law
and
order
police
raided
the
home
of
Daily
News
editor
Guthrie
Munyuki
at
dawn
on
Friday
after
sister
publication
The
Financial
Gazette
made
an
error
in
an
advert
which
suggested
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
was
dead.

Munyuki
was
not
home
at
the
time
but
the
gunmen
temporarily
seized
his
wife
and
children’s
phones
and
examined
their
communications,
a
Daily
News
executive
briefed
on
the
raid
said.

“Guthrie’s
brother
also
lives
in
the
same
neighbourhood
in
Westgate
and
he
too
was
woken
up
by
nearly
a
dozen
men
driving
in
a
Toyota
Fortuner
and
a
Toyota
Hilux.
They
demanded
to
know
Guthrie’s
whereabouts,”
the
executive
said,
speaking
on
condition
they
were
not
named.

When
she
left
the
house
on
her
morning
run
in
their
neighbourhood,
Munyuki’s
wife
reported
being
trailed
by
some
of
the
men,
while
others
guarded
the
house.

Lawyer
Alex
Muchadehama
was
due
to
meet
the
police
on
Friday
morning
seeking
clarity
on
the
situation.

The
Financial
Gazette
ran
an
advert
on
Thursday
inserted
by
the
Zimbabwe
Defence
Forces
congratulating
Mnangagwa
on
his
82nd
birthday.

The
advert
concluded:
“May
his
soul
rest
in
eternal
peace.”

On
Friday,
the
Daily
News
published
an
apology
blaming
the
error
on
“lapses
in
the
production
process.”

“We
apologise
profusely
to
President
Mnangagwa,
his
family,
his
office,
the
government
and
the
ZDF
for
the
anguish
and
inconvenience
that
this
inadvertent
mistake
caused,”
the
paper
said.

Advert
mistakes
are
not
uncommon
in
Zimbabwean
newspapers
as
adverts
are
managed
by
advertising
department
staff
who
typically
use
old
templates
for
regular
advertisers,
only
tweaking
the
wording.
Editors
rarely
see
the
adverts
before
publication.

The
timing
could
not
have
come
at
a
worse
time
for
the
publication,
just
days
after
a
military
helicopter
due
to
fly
President
Mnangagwa
from
Masvingo
to
Harare
crashed
while
taking
off
to
go
and
pick
him
up
from
Bikita.

Sources
said
paranoia
among
Mnangagwa
aides
and
loyalists
was
“running
rampant”
so
much
so
he
is
contemplating
skipping
the
annual
United
Nations
General
Assembly
in
New
York.