Zimbabwe arrests reporter on World Cup assignment

Tourism board

Zimbabwe's Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi told journalists he was "extremely concerned" after a Mexican journalist, after the arrest of a foreign journalist.

The Mexican journalist had been specially accredited by authorities to make a documentary on tourist sites in southern Zimbabwe, was wrongfully arrested.

Mexico is one of the 32 teams participating in the tournament. The documentary aims to show Mexicans how and where to travel in Zimbabwe between their side's matches.

"We approve a journalist from Mexico to go and film in (the town of) Masvingo and he was arrested," he said. "The same journalist with my driver, my car, and a government letter, was arrested."

Masvingo is famous for an ancient stone city and a society that flourished there about 800 years ago, known as Great Zimbabwe.

"We cannot attract tourists if we do not look at our law and order," said Mzembi, who is from President Robert Mugabe's half of the country's year-old power-sharing government.

The coalition administration between Mugabe and former opposition leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is charged with abolishing draconian laws that have severely restricted media freedom for the last decade, when Mugabe's Zanu-PF governed alone.

While the regulations have been relaxed and a number of previously banned media outlets, such as the BBC, have been allowed to report in Zimbabwe over the past year, police harassment of journalists is still widespread.

Mzembi did not name the Mexican journalist, and calls to the Mexican embassy went unanswered. The journalist was released after the minister's intervention.

"He has understood that we are in transition, and we have said it will not happen again," Mzembi said.