Minister bans media, grabs floods donations

Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, has banned the country's "scandalous" media from visiting the Tokwe-Mukosi flood disaster victims, accusing the press of falsifying information on the plight of the troubled villagers.

Bhasikiti told a group of Harare-based journalists at the weekend that they were not welcome to Chingwizi camp which has provided temporary shelter to affected villagers.

"We are getting journalists becoming so scandalous and mischievous to the extent of even saying the whole flooding of Tokwe-Mukosi was artificial … that (the disaster) was a creation of government," Bhasikiti told the scribes who had visited his offices on their way to Chingwizi.

The journalists, among them reporters from the ZBC, were accompanied by a group of children who had raised some donations which they intended to donate to kids at Chingwizi.

A local NGO, the Zimbabwe National Council for Welfare of Children, was also part of the group which included children from ZBC's Kidznet unit.

During the stopover at his provincial offices, Bhasikiti grabbed the donations, insisting he would deliver them himself as provincial head.