Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman, Tafadzwa Musarara, has approached the High Court seeking former ZiFM Stereo’s programmes manager, Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa’s arrest for allegedly defying a court order compelling her to apologise for defaming him.
Musarara said he is seeking a 60-day incarceration for Parirenyatwa, after she deliberately refused to apologise on Twitter. In 2016, Musarara filed a $200 000 defamation lawsuit against Parirenyatwa after she claimed on Twitter that she had not invited Musarara to her programme where she interviewed #ThisFlag founder, Evan Mawarire. Parirenyatwa’s statement resulted in the public attacking Musarara instead. Musarara argues that Parirenyatwa called him to attend the show despite her claims on Twitter.
However, when the two appeared before High Court judge, Justice Helena Charewa last November, Parirenyatwa pleaded with Musarara not to pursue the lawsuit and offered to publicly apologise on the same social media platform, leading to a deed of settlement. Said Musarara:
In terms of the deed of settlement, the respondent was to issue an apology in the words specified therein within a period of seven days. The respondent has not issued out the apology. She has instead opened a new account on the Twitter platform with a viewership of 75 people on which she purportedly apologised. The Twitter account she had used to defame me had a 33 000 viewership or followers at the time of the delict complained of. The respondent has effectively refused to comply with an order of court which order she consented to.
More: NewsDay
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