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| By Our Correspondent Tekere who hit the headlines recently when he launched his controversial book: 'A Lifetime of Struggle', is suing both the publisher Zimpapers and the Sunday Mail which ran an article alleging that he was a mad man out to distort the history of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle for independence in the 1970s. In the article, the paper quoting Zanu-Pf politician, George Rutanhire, reported that Tekere "once suffered mental instability", that "he went mad and formed his own party" and that "He suffered bouts of mental instability in the past". In court papers filed by his lawyer Joseph Mandizha of Mandizha and Co, Tekere said the Sunday Mail lied by reporting that: "Mr Tekere is also reported to have claimed that he was instrumental in catapulting President Mugabe to the helm of Zanu-PF, yet the party's wartime supreme council, the Dare reChimurenga had popularly endorsed his ascension to the party's top post. "The article and publication as aforesaid was (sic) wrongful, unlawful and defamatory of plaintiff as it was understood by members of the public, not only in its literal sense which (is) defamatory, but also to mean plaintiff is insane and is not worthy of belief," the papers state. Tekere argues that the report depicted him as someone who was incapable of independent and rational thought, a liar, and as someone who did not "deserve the respect accorded to liberation war veterans for their indisputable, priceless and invaluable contribution towards the liberation of He argued further that the report also portrayed him as someone with no moral grounds to comment on the liberation struggle of The Sunday Mail portrayed him as a liar who would not hesitate to do anything to distort the historical truth of the liberation struggle, the lawyers argue. They argue that the article exposed Tekere to public hatred and contempt. They say it damaged his fame, reputation, liberation war credentials, patriotism and the democratic values he espouses. The maverick politician is suing the Sunday Mail and Zimpapers jointly for ZWD$10 billion. The defendants in the case, have ten days to respond to the lawsuit. In his book Tekere questions how Mugabe rose to lead Zanu, one of the country's two main liberation movements in the 1970s. He says Mugabe rose to power by default. Since the launch of Tekere's book Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party bigwigs have launched a relentless media campaign to discredit the Manicaland politician. The government also ordered Kingstons Books, a book-chain which it owns, not to stock the title. Send your comments to: letters@thezimbabwetimes.com |
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