Zimbabwean editor and Journalist arrested over President Mugabe 'health scare' story

Zimbabwean police have arrested an editor and senior reporter of the privately-owned News Day newspaper for 'undermining President Robert Mugabe'.

The editor, Wisdom Mudzungairi was arrested with senior reporter Richard Chidza, who wrote the story that claimed Mugabe was 'in fresh health scare'. 

In the story, NewsDay alleged that Mugabe had 'sneaked out of the country" on Wednesday in 'a bad shape'.

The publication quoted unnamed sources who claimed that First Lady Grace Mugabe had flown out of the country on Monday to organise 'a chartered flight for the 93-year-old leader'.

Although, Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba confirmed to state media on Wednesday that Mugabe had left the country for a scheduled medical check-up and was expected back in the country next week on Monday.

Mudzungairi and Chidza were summoned this morning before being charged with undermining the authority of Mugabe, their lawyer, Obey Shava said. 

According to Shava, the publishers of the paper, Alpha Media Holdings was the first accused, while Mudzungairi and Chidza were second and third accused respectively.

'The first accused is Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) and the second accused is the editor and the third accused is the journalist. They are accused of breaching section 33 of criminal law codification and reform act, undermining or insulting the office of the president,' Shava was quoted as saying.