Maputo — A well-known Mozambican television journalist, Ercilio Zacarias, has been forced to move his family, after receiving anonymous death threats against them, reports Thursday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax".

Zacarias, who works for the newest of the Mozambican commercial TV stations, TIM (Independent Television of Mozambique), received the first threat in the form of a text message left on his mobile phone, at about 21.20 on Tuesday night. The message warned him to "watch your tongue" or "something bad" might happen.

Much worse was the anonymous letter Zacarias found pushed under the door of his house when he woke up the following morning. It said "Do you like your family? Then take care, Mr Journalist".

"Stay 30 days without writing anything, or it will cost you very dear", the message continued. "It will hurt you to lose your children".

Frightened at the threat to the lives of his family, Zacarias felt obliged to move them to an undisclosed location, and to contact the police, who have been investigating the threats since Wednesday.

It is suspected the death threats may arise from TIM news items that angered the powerful Brazilian cult, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD). TIM, like several other Mozambican media, has been pursuing an outrageous case involving the sacking, without advance notice, of two Mozambican pastors from this fundamentalist evangelical church.

The two pastors say they have no idea why they were dismissed. Because the IURD insists that its pastors must live on church premises, the two men lost not only their jobs but also their homes. They and their families, including young children, were effectively thrown onto the streets.

The two claimed wrongful dismissal and sought help from the Labour Ministry, which called in IURD bishops and demanded an explanation for the summary sackings. Journalists have followed the case tenaciously, buttonholing IURD bishop Jose Guerra in the street, and embarrassing him on the nation's TV screens.

The IURD has spread from Brazil across the Portuguese speaking world and beyond. It is an openly fraudulent church, performing "miracles" at every service. It is also mysteriously wealthy, and in Brazil has repeatedly faced accusations (always denied) of drug trafficking and money laundering.

The IURD does not like the spotlight being shone on its affairs, and it is not at all far-fetched that it might resort to less than Christian means to silence its opponents.

A further suggestion made by "Mediafax" is that the threats might come from people who did not like TIM reports on the way that certain journalists have also taken on jobs as advisors to government departments or to private companies.

Meanwhile, the governor of the western province of Tete, Ildefonso Muanantatha, has refused to comment on the demand by the media regulatory body, the Supreme Mass Media Council (CSCS), that he apologise publicly for the death threats he made in March against Bernardo Carlos, a journalist on the daily paper "Noticias".

Contacted by the weekly paper "Savana", Muanantatha first said he had not yet seen the CSCS statement that includes the demand for a public apology. He claimed that Tuesday's edition of "Noticias", which printed the statement in full, had not yet reached Tete.

The excuse is less than convincing, since "Noticias" is also available on-line, and the governor doubtless has access to a computer. Phone lines between Maputo and Tete work perfectly well, so he could also have had the CSCS statement faxed to his office.

So "Savana" summarized the statement for the governor, telling him that the CSCS wanted him to apologise. Would he do so?

Muanantatha replied that he preferred not to comment. Right from the start his position had been "no comment", and it was still "no comment". In any case, he was "very busy".

When "Savana" insisted, the governor said he would only take a position after he had read the CSCS document.