Media Institute of Southern Africa (Windhoek)
16 December 2003
press release
The Zimbabwe government is planning to introduce new measures to police all broadcast and Internet based information circulation in a bid to control the flow of information in the country, The Daily Mirror reported on 9 December 2003.
The paper says that this move, if successfully completed means that the government will be able to monitor individual information, messages and letters leading to the arrest of all those involved in circulating information that the government says undermines the sovereignty of the country.
The Daily Mirror reported that government through the Department of Information and Publicity is set to purchase equioment to the value of $4 billion to enable it to access the cyberspace.
Furthermore the paper revealed that the Department of Information and Publicity led by Professor Jonathan Moyo is at an advanced stage of setting up 24-hour short wave and medium wave radio news station.
The government has so far accused SW Radio Africa - a United Kingdom based radio station and Washington's Voice of America's Studio 7 of disseminating negative information about the country. The paper said the government intends to counter the short-wave radio stations by launching its own 24-hour news broadcast.
Speaking at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva on December 10, President Robert Mugabe echoed similar sentiments as expressed in the paper saying Britain and the United States of America are using their superiority in information technologies to destabilise Zimbabwe and other small and poor states.
"I say this because my country Zimbabwe continues to be a victim of such aggression, with both the United Kingdom and the United States using their information technologies superiority to challenge our sovereignty through hostile and malicious broadcasts calculated to foment instability and destroy the state through divisions," Mugabe said.
BACKGROUND
In November 14 people were arrested and charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) for allegedly spreading false information. The 14 were arrested while writing e-mail messages to collegues on the worsening economic and political situation in Zimbabwe.
Over a hundred media workers have been arrested under other anti freedom of expression laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) on allegations of writing falsehoods or operating media outlets without licenses. Under AIPPA, Zimbabwe's leading independent daily paper The Daily News was closed down on allegations of operating illegally.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 Media Institute of Southern Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
