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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
vidual decisions on whether to register
or not,” said Meldrum.
Meldrum told MISA-Zimbabwe
that the number of foreign correspondents
based in Zimbabwe has gone
down, and some have already been
given until December to wind up their
business and leave.
Department of Information and Publicity
official Mamutse promised to
clarify the issue with MISA-Zimbabwe
on September 10.
UPDATE
DATE: 2002-09-12
PERSON(S) Griffin Shea
VIOLATION(S): Expelled
240 So This Is Democracy?
Griffin Shea, a correspondent for
Agence France Presse (AFP), is set to
leave Zimbabwe on September 14,
2002, following the non-renewal of his
work permit by the Zimbabwean government.
Shea, who has been in Zimbabwe
for two years, was told to leave
after the expiry of his work permit.
Information and Publicity Minister
Jonathan Moyo has closed all doors to
the possibility of Shea remaining in
Zimbabwe. The Minister dismissed
calls for the renewal of Shea’s work
permit, arguing that no foreign journalists
can hold a permanent work permit.
“We are not a banana republic wanting
to please foreign journalists. We
are a constitutional democracy underpinned
by the rule of law,” said Moyo.
“We are very proud that we are one
of the countries that have trained an
impressive professional cadre of journalists
and they need work. Shea is an
American and he can go and work
there,” fumed Moyo.
Moyo dismissed calls for the renewal
of the work permit as a show of
contempt for Zimbabwean laws. “In
this case the law is very clear. No foreigner
should be resident here as a journalist.
We have made it clear that they
can only be here for a limited period;
in fact, the limited period is thirty
days,” said Moyo.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-10-15
INSTITUTION(S) The Daily News
VIOLATION(S): Censored
On October 9, 2002, the privatelyowned
national daily newspaper “The
Daily News” reported that a group of
youths from the National Youth Service
programme destroyed 450 copies
of the paper in the eastern border town
of Mutare. The confiscated copies are
valued at US$500 at the official exchange
rate.
The youths took the newspapers to
the offices of Provincial Governor
Oppah Muchinguri. Martin Zimudyi,
“The Daily News”’s sales and distribution
representative in Mutare, said
the youths were angered by the daily’s
headline story, which reported that
President Mugabe had angrily left a
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) summit after being
snubbed by his colleagues.
Zimudyi confirmed that no one was
injured in the incident. The matter was
reported to the police. The newspaper
further reported that efforts to get a
comment from the governor’s office
were fruitless. MISA was also unable
to get an official comment from the
office of the Provincial Governor.
The Zimbabwean government
launched the National Youth Service
programme in 2001, purportedly to