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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
ALERT
DATE: 2002-02-25
PERSON(S): Mallick Mnela, Quinton
Jamieson, Robert Jamieson
VIOLATION(S): Threatened,
beaten
On 22 February 2002, members of the
ruling United Democratic Front’s
(UDF) Young Democrats and National
Intelligence Bureau (NIB, an official
intelligence body) agents broke into
the privately-owned “The Chronicle”
newspaper’s offices in Lilongwe,
where they abducted reporter Mallick
Mnela and fled with him in an unmarked
Land Rover vehicle.
Publisher and editor-in-chief Robert
Jamieson told MISA that he and his
son Quinton gave chase in his car. “We
managed to contact the paramilitary
police, the Police Mobile Force, who
helped us to force the Land Rover into
a police station,” he said.
However, police officers looked on
as the UDF party thugs assaulted
Jamieson, his son (who also works at
the newspaper) and Mnela. The youths
accused the journalists of “writing ill”
of President Muluzi and the UDF.
Another journalist, Joseph Ganthu,
was also beaten. “Apparently, the story
we wrote about ‘warring factions’
within the UDF central region committee
may be the cause of this,” he
said.
The story unearthed the deepening
divisions between loyalists of the
UDF’s central region governor, Uladi
Mussa, and sacked former deputy minister
Iqbal Omar. Young Democrats
loyal to the two factions clashed a fortnight
ago.
“This is uncalled for,” said
Jamieson. “Is the UDF a sacred cow?
62 So This Is Democracy?
We all write on problems in the MCP
[Malawi Congress Party, an opposition
party].”
Police spokesman George Chikowi
said he had no information on the incident.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-03-14
INSTITUTION(S): Blantyre
Printing and Publishing (BP&P) –
publishers of the Daily Times,
Malawi News
VIOLATION(S): Censored
On 13 March 2002, the Malawi Revenue
Authority (MRA) stormed the
premises of the Blantyre Printing and
Publishing (BP&P) group of companies,
a parent body of Blantyre Newspapers
Limited (BNL), publishers of
the “Daily Times” and “Malawi
News”, and impounded a number of
vehicles belonging to various divisions
of the conglomerate.
The move occurred shortly after
editorials critical of the government
appeared in the “Daily Times”, a flagship
of the BNL, over the past few
days. The editorials have questioned
the rationale behind President Bakili
Muluzi’s decision to release funds to
rehabilitate Television Malawi and
build houses for poor people on the
spur of the moment. This is all occurring
as the country’s citizens are suffering
from excruciating hunger created
by an acute maize shortage.
According to BNL’s managing editor,
Jika Nkolokosa, the MRA went
to BP&P without notice, despite the
agreement between the tax collectors
and the company allowing the BP&P
to settle its tax arrears in installments.
This action, said Nkolokosa, raised