State charges AMH’s Heart and Soul TV in journalist Mhlanga’s case
AMH CHAIRMAN: Trevour Ncube
In a fresh turn of events, the state has announced that it will be going after Alpha Media Holdings (AMH)’s subsidiary, Heart and Soul TV.
HSTV will be jointly charged with journalist Blessed Mhlanga for allegedly publishing messages that incite public violence.
This emerged when Mhlanga, who has been in jail since February this year, challenged his further remand before magistrate Ruth Moyo.
His trial is expected to commence on May 14, and according to his lawyer, HSTV will have been charged by then.
“The state was supposed to give a trial date and allocate the matter to a trial court.
“Initially, the state had indicated that they needed one more postponement, but the state has now decided to rope in HSTV.
“The state has pronounced that HSTV, the organisation that employs Blessed Mhlanga, will be a co-accused.
“Charges are going to be levelled against this media house called HSTV in respect of the charges that Blessed is facing,” Mhike told journalists at court on Wednesday.
Mhlanga’s lawyer had challenged the postponement of the matter because they had been promised that a trial date was going to be set on Wednesday.
However, after the lunch break, the state announced that it was ready for trial.
“They suddenly changed their position to say they are suddenly ready to go to trial and allocated May 14 as the trial date,” Mhike said.
He said, despite their indication that his lawyer of choice will be out of the country, prosecutors insisted that they will stick to the 14th.
Mhlanga is accused of publishing a press conference by war veteran Blessed Geza, who is on the run.
During the press conference, Geza demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa resign and challenged calls for him to remain in power until 2030.
Mhlanga has been denied bail on three occasions by both magistrates and the High Court.
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