Published by the government of Zimbabwe
17 October 2003
Harare — ASSOCIATED Newspapers of Zimbabwe has resolved to once again break the law by having its journalists who are not accredited with the Media Information Commission gather and write news in the country for the online edition of the Daily News which would be put together in South Africa.
Sources said the company's executive committee, which comprises all heads of departments and is chaired by chief executive Mr Sam Sipepa Nkomo, met on Monday and agreed that sending reporters to work from South Africa would be expensive.
However, contacted yesterday Mr Nkomo denied that the company had tasked its reporters to start gathering news for the online edition of the Daily News.
"I am the chief executive and I don't know what you are talking about. There is nothing like that and I don't know where you are getting your information from," said Mr Nkomo.
But despite Mr Nkomo's denial, sources said the meeting resolved that the Daily News reporters should gather and write news in Zimbabwe which would then be sent by e-mail to South Africa.
A sub-editor had already been flown to South Africa and would receive the stories and put them onto the online edition.
The sources said representatives from editorial had protested in the meeting that they were being asked to break the law, but had been ignored.
At least 12 journalists from the Daily News have been charged by police for operating illegally ever since the opposition paper was shut down on September 11 after the Supreme Court ruled that it was operating illegally.
Mr Nkomo is said to have told the paper's editor Nqobile Nyathi to see to it that the online edition comes out on Monday.
Nyathi, the sources said, then tasked managing editor Abel Mutsakani to address reporters on the latest developments.
Neither Nyathi nor Mutsakani could not be reached on their mobile phones last night.
Mutsakani, the sources said, told the journalists that they were embarking on "a journey of believers" and that those interested should submit their names for "the project".
"Mutsakani told us that the only thing that the company can do in the event that we are arrested is to provide a lawyer. But what they are basically telling us to do is to continue breaking the law," said a source.
The journalists are said to have queried whether they would be paid risk allowances, but they were told that they should understand that the company had not been making money because the paper has not been coming out since September 11.
Contacted for comment, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo, said this was yet another clear reminder and demonstration of the lawlessness that had come to characterise those behind the Daily News.
"It's a strategy hashed by outlaws who are in the meantime busy trying to convince the courts that they should be allowed to be registered while they continue operating outside the law.
"When they first approached the Supreme Court, their hands were dirty. Now their whole bodies are dirty and we will not hesitate to use the law to clean them up.
"If they want to go and set up a website in Timbuktu or in Mars, they are welcome to do so and must take all their unaccredited journalists with them," said Prof Moyo.
The minister said anyone who wanted to practice as a journalist in Zimbabwe must be accredited.
Zimbabwe law would apply and the Government would not entertain or brook any lawlessness whatsoever.
"The message must go down not just to the editors, but to the journalists as well. This newspaper has broken our law and enough is enough."
He said the ANZ had compromised the journalists at the Daily News and their families and had turned otherwise promising professionals into criminals.
"We advise those people to think of their careers. If they want to be outlaws, they should be prepared for the legal consequences.
"If they want to be journalists, opportunities are there. Journalism is not synonymous with the Daily News."
Prof Moyo said if the Daily News owners, editors and donors were determined to break the law, "then we are double determined to insist on the rule of law and the rule of law shall prevail come rain or sunshine".
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