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Nieman Notes
Zimbabwe Journalist Mark Chavunduka, 1965-2002
By Bill Krueger
Mark Chavunduka was one of
journalism’s heroes. In 1999,
Chavunduka and a colleague, Ray
Choto, withstood repeated beatings
and other forms of torture during nine
days as military officials in Zimbabwe
tried to force them to reveal the sources
of a story they had published in The
Standard. The story, relying on unnamed
sources, said that 23 members
of the Zimbabwe National Army had
been arrested for plotting the overthrow
of the government of President
Robert Mugabe.
Chavunduka and Choto were beaten
and kicked. Live electrical wires were
placed on various parts of their bodies.
A bag filled with water was tied around
their heads. They were forced to roll
naked on a hard tarmac while officers
beat them with planks. But Chavunduka
and Choto never revealed their sources.
They never backed off of their story.
Mark was a member of my Nieman
class, the class of 2000. Mark’s case
helped bring our Nieman class together
Mark Chavunduka. Photo by the Krueger
family.
at the beginning of the year. His story
reminded those of us in the United
States how easy we have it—and how
difficult it is to practice journalism in
much of the world. Early in our year—
not long after he had been released—
I asked Mark about doing investigative
reporting in such a hostile environment.
“We do it because it has to be
done,” he said. “It’s our contribution
in the fight against corruption and bad
government. That is the correct thing
to do.”
In the fall of 1999, Mark told me that
he was still hurting from a perforated
eardrum and that he had eye problems
from being forced by military officials
to stare into a bright light during questioning.
More troubling, he said, were
the recurring nightmares he suffered.
“There are times when you wake up in
the middle of the night really sweating,
almost as if you’ve been taking a
shower,” he said. “You can’t think. You
just start crying.”
But Mark felt that something good
came out of his case and the international
attention it drew. It had
emboldened the independent media
in Zimbabwe. “It has made them stronger,”
he said. “It proved to the government
that it can’t just arrest folks. The
public outcry, both locally and internationally,
was so overwhelming.”
Mark Chavunduka died November
11. He was 37 years old, and he left
behind his wife, Abigail, and three
young children. In April, he had taken
over a controlling share in an independent
magazine publishing business.
The cause of Mark’s death was not
announced, but reports out of Harare
indicated that it was not believed to be
related to his torture. His father said
Mark complained of pains in his side
before he died at a Harare clinic. ■
Bill Krueger, a 2000 Nieman Fellow,
is a staff writer for The News &
Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Nieman Reports / Winter 2002 117