Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

MOZAMBIQUE
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
ALERT
DATE: 2002-01-17
PERSON(S): Marcello Mosse
INSTITUTION(S): Metical
VIOLATION(S): Legislation
President Joaquim Alberto
Chissano’s son, Nympine Chissano,
filed charges of criminal defamation
against Marcello Mosse and
“Metical” over a February 21, 2001
“Metical” article reporting that
Nympine Chissano was briefly detained
in South Africa, around 15
February, on unspecified charges.
In a written denial sent to
“Metical” in March, Nympine
Chissano’s lawyer threatened legal
action against the newspaper, declaring
that his client was not detained
and had “never transported cocaine
or other substances forbidden by law
inside or outside the country,” according
to AIM, the Mozambican
state news service.
However, sources concur that the
“Metical” story did not mention cocaine
or any other illegal substance.
That allegation first appeared in the
Johannesburg “Mail and Guardian”
under the byline of a South African
journalist. Mosse later repeated the
allegation in the Portuguese weekly
“Expresso”, for which he is the correspondent
in Mozambique.
The next hearing is scheduled for
January 21. Nympine Chissano is
seeking damages of US$80 000 from
Mosse and “Metical”. A guilty verdict
could also result in a jail sentence
for the journalist.
“Metical” cannot be liable for allegations
that it did not publish. For
this reason alone, Nympine
Chissano’s case has no merit.
“Metical”, which closed its doors
in late December 2001, was the property
of its founder and first editor,
Carlos Cardoso, who was murdered
on November 22, 2000. After
Cardoso’s death, ownership of the
paper passed to Cardoso’s two underage
children, Ibo and Milena, under
the legal supervision of their mother,
Nina Berg. In the worst-case scenario,
the court could jail Mosse and
bankrupt the Cardoso family.
UPDATE
DATE: 2002-03-11
PERSON(S): Marcello Mosse
INSTITUTION(S): Metical
VIOLATION(S): Legislation
On Monday March 11, 2002, the libel
case pursued by businessman
Nyimpinhe Chissano, son of
Mozambican President Joaquim
Chissano, against journalist Marcelo
Mosse and the now defunct newssheet
“Metical”, was postponed. This
is the fifth time that the case has been
postponed.
The case was to have been heard in
the Maputo First Urban District Court
on Monday March 11. However, the
judge announced that a protest lodged
by the defence with a higher court, the
Maputo City Court, has been successful.
This means that before the libel
case can be heard in the lower court,
the higher court must decide on a series
of irregularities alleged by the defence,
which could render the whole
case null and void.
The urban district judge, Wilson
Djambo, previously admitted the appeal
by “Metical” lawyer Lucinda
Cruz, but ruled that the appeal could
only be heard after the trial. Since her
So This Is Democracy? 81