VP sues Minister for defamation

Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sued Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo for $3m on a defamation charge emanating from a widely circulated video presentation during the ruling Zanu-PF party's politburo in July. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Moyo accused Mnangagwa of assaulting prominent journalist Godfrey Majonga who dived out of a flat window during an altercation over a woman in Harare in 1987. Majonga was permanently disabled. Mnangagwa demanded an unreserved apology from Moyo or risk being sued for defamation. However, in defiance of the Vice-President's demands, Moyo told The Standard that he stood by his claims 'and in the interest of truth and justice as well as in the public interest, I'm ready to meet VP Mnangagwa in court over this matter anytime'. He added that 'it would be a terrible mistake for anyone to think that the material in that politburo video was put together and presented in the manner it was without due consideration of the facts and the law'.