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ZIMBABWE
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
police came to the premises at around
2:00 a.m., after being informed of the
bombing.
VOP coordinator John Masuku said
that his secretary phoned him at around
8:00 a.m., as he was preparing to go to
work. Masuku told MISA-Zimbabwe
that there was nothing suspicious when
station employees left the office on
August 28, and that no one had threatened
them. Masuku added that he was
in the process of contacting the station’s
lawyer and was not in a position
to give further comments.
The radio station, which had not yet
been licenced, was not broadcasting in
Zimbabwe. Instead it was recording its
programmes, which were being broadcast
on short-wave from outside Zimbabwe.
The bombing of VOP radio station
comes against a background of an
acrimonious relationship between the
authorities and the station. The government
had accused VOP of “tarnishing
the country’s image” through its
reporting. Police raided the radio station
on July 4. Accompanied by officers
from the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) and armed with a
search warrant, they raided the station
in search of a transmitter and other
broadcasting equipment. After failing
to find the transmitter, the police confiscated
133 tapes and files from the
office. Masuku informed MISA-Zimbabwe
that the tapes and files that the
police had taken had since been returned.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-09-10
PERSON(S) Griffin Shea
VIOLATION(S): Expelled
Agence France Presse (AFP) foreign
correspondent Griffin Shea’s application
for the renewal of his work permit
was turned down by the Zimbabwean
government, MISA-Zimbabwe
has confirmed.
Shea told MISA-Zimbabwe that, on
September 7, 2002, he received a letter
from the Department of Information
and Publicity informing him that
his application had been turned down.
The journalist noted that he would be
going to Johannesburg, South Africa,
and might return depending on the
outcome of the court cases filed by the
Zimbabwe Foreign Correspondents
Association (ZFCA) against repressive
clauses in the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act.
Shea pointed out that, in June, Minister
of Information and Publicity
Jonathan Moyo had indicated to the
AFP that he would probably not allow
any foreign journalists to work in Zimbabwe.
“The letter did not come as a
surprise,” said Shea.
Shea told MISA-Zimbabwe that a
Department of Information and Publicity
official, Edward Mamutse, had
told him that the decision about which
foreign journalists can work in Zimbabwe
rests with the department and
not the Media Commission.
When asked to comment, Mamutse
told MISA-Zimbabwe that no one had
come forward yet from foreign correspondents’
organisations in order to be
registered. “Foreign correspondents
have to register their organisation first
before they are registered themselves,”
said Mamutse.
Andrew Meldrum, ZFCA chairperson,
stated that they are unsure about
what is happening with the registration
of foreign correspondents. “We
have told our members to make indi-
So This Is Democracy? 239