Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
noise, we have been making law. Fortunately,
the majority of Zimbabwean
journalists and editors, most of them
from the so-called public media, have
quietly given us very useful submissions
which we are seriously considering
with a view to taking them on
board,” he added. Moyo also said that
all submissions would be made public
on Tuesday January 22 in the form
of amendments to the bill.
“That would serve as a reminder to
our thoughtless detractors that in a
constitutional democracy such as
ours, a bill is a discussion paper until
it becomes law. That is why bills are
gazetted - for the public to debate
them and contribute to their refinement.
We are happy that some of our
citizens understand this. You either
participate constructively in the discussion
by making specific contributions
or you shut up,” Moyo said.
MISA notes, however, that despite
Moyo’s statements, the Minister ignored
all the submissions that were
proposed by media organisations, including
MISA-Zimbabwe. MISA-
Zimbabwe made its first submission
to Minister Moyo as far back as August
2001. The allegation that people
were making noise without making
official submissions is therefore
without merit.
In addition to making submissions
to the Minister, MISA-Zimbabwe
and other organisations have also
made submissions and had interviews
with the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Transport and
Communications over the bill.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-01-20
INSTITUTION(S): The Financial
186 So This Is Democracy?
Gazette, The Daily News
VIOLATION(S): Censored
On Thursday January 10, 2002, a
number of the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) party’s supporters tore
up and burnt copies of the independent
weekly newspapers “The Financial
Gazette” and “The Daily News”,
according to a report in the 17 January
edition of “The Financial Gazette”.
The incident occurred while
the ZANU-PF supporters were on
their way to Harare International Airport
in hired buses to welcome Congolese
President Joseph Kabila.
While on its way to the airport, a
crew from “The Financial Gazette”
witnessed the destruction of the
newspapers. The ruling party youths,
who were wearing t-shirts with the
ZANU-PF logo, got off a ZUPCO
(Zimbabwe United Passenger Company
Limited) bus with registration
number 438-108 M on Chiremba
road in the suburb of Hatfield. They
then forced newspaper vendors to
hand over large bundles of “The
Daily News” and “The Financial
Gazette”, which they burnt publicly.
The youths, who were visibly
drunk, chased some vendors and anyone
seen with a copy of the two newspapers.
Motorists were also forced to
stop and their newspapers were confiscated
and burnt.
ZANU-PF has accused the independent
media of writing lies about
events in the country and President
Mugabe. Incidences of ZANU-PF
youths destroying independent media
newspapers are becoming widespread
as the country prepares for the
March presidential elections.