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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
it had entered into with the ZBC.
Nherere added that the reasons given
for the cancellation were unjustifiable
in terms of the contract. He further argued
that Minister Moyo was behind
the banning of the programme and was
therefore rightfully cited as a respondent.
He stated that by cancelling the
programme, the ZBC was denying
members of the public their constitutional
right to freedom of expression,
taking into account that the ZBC is a
public institution.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-08-23
PERSON(S): Peta Thornycroft,
Precious Shumba
VIOLATION(S): Detained, censored
On August 14, 2002, two Zimbabwean
journalists, Precious Shumba
and Peta Thornycroft, were held hostage
for about five hours, together
with a commercial farmer they were
interviewing at a farm located 26 kilometres
west of the capital, Harare.
The August 15 edition of “The Daily
News” reported that Shumba, a reporter
with “The Daily News”, and
Thornycroft, a correspondent for the
London-based “Daily Telegraph”, together
with commercial farmer
Christopher Hinde, were trapped in
Hinde’s house as a group of about 120
ruling party supporters demanded that
the reporters be handed over to them.
“The Daily News” reported that the
mob alleged that Shumba and
Thornycroft should have asked for
permission from their superiors before
interviewing the besieged farmer. The
group demanded that the reporters be
handed over to their “central committee”,
which was to “deal with them.”
238 So This Is Democracy?
A driver from “The Daily News”, who
was not in the house, was assaulted by
the ruling party supporters. He was
later saved by the mob’s “superiors”,
who restrained their colleagues, leading
to the release of the two journalists.
The two reporters were warned
against returning to the farm.
In the confusion following the detention
and release of the journalists,
Thornycroft lost her camera, valued at
US$1,000. “The Daily News” reported
that although the police were alerted
of the journalists’ detention, they did
not react, despite promises that they
were “on their way.”
ALERT
DATE: 2002-08-29
INSTITUTION(S): Voice of The
People (VOP)
VIOLATION(S): Bombed
The offices of the aspiring community
radio station The Voice of The
People (VOP) were bombed on August
29, 2002 at around 1:00 a.m. (local
time).
The radio station was bombed by
three men who went to the station’s
premises in Milton Park, a Harare suburb,
and threw a bomb inside the building.
The whole building was razed to
the ground and everything inside was
destroyed. MISA-Zimbabwe was informed
by the VOP security guard that
three men approached him at 1:00 a.m.
and told him in the vernacular (Shona)
language that he “must step aside lest
he dies for something that he is not
involved in.” According to the guard,
the three men had come by foot and
may have parked their car at a distance
from the station’s premises. The guard
also told MISA-Zimbabwe that the