Vienna — The following is an IPI letter to President Robert Mugabe:
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe Office of the President Causeway, Harare Zimbabwe Fax: (+ 263 4) 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, condemns the latest attempts by the Zimbabwean government to intimidate and harass the independent media.
According to reports in the British Independent newspaper and the electronic news agency AllAfrica Global Media, the Zimbabwean government is now investigating the Sunday newspaper The Standard as well as the Zimbabwe Independent with a view to possibly closing them in the future.
On 5 October, an article by Caiphas Chimhete in The Standard quoted Tafataona Mahoso, the head of the state Media and Information Commission, at an official launch, as saying, "Oh, you are from The Standard. We will be coming for you; we will be writing to you soon." In a reference to a gossip column in the newspaper, which has upset the government on a number of occasions, Mahoso said, "You are writing lies, carrying stories with initials as by-lines."
At the same venue, Junior Information Minister Jonathan Moyo described the two newspapers as "the running dogs of capitalism". In a further reference, he said, "Really, we should shut these papers down because they are trash, they injure our national interest". Moyo then went on to state that the VOA's news broadcasting station, which is beamed into Zimbabwe from outside the country, "faces death".
The attacks on the two newspapers come only weeks after the 11 September closure of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday for apparently breaching the procedures of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
In relation to this incident, five Daily News directors and 15 journalists have apparently been charged with breaking Zimbabwe's media laws.
In addition to the aggressive comments of members of the government, the officially sanctioned Sunday Mail has also accused The Standard of planning to publish a daily edition of the newspaper by employing members of the closed Daily News.
IPI is deeply concerned by the statements of Mahoso and Moyo because they once again show the government's deep seated resentment of the independent media in Zimbabwe. Moreover, it also reveals the government's continuing desire to close all newspapers which offer criticism and to stifle all forms of legitimate dissent in the country.
Furthermore, IPI also wishes to point out that government comments which raise "the national interest" as a justification for the repression of the media are little more than a self-serving pretence. By claiming to act in the "national interest" the government is actually guilty of seeking to protect its own narrow self-interests rather than those of the country as a whole.
IPI believes that the independent media have an absolute right to comment on the events in Zimbabwe. Through its failure to allow the dissemination of information in all its various forms, including comment and opinion, the present government is reinforcing the overwhelming impression that it is deeply intolerant of criticism and is prepared to contort the rule of law in order to close down media organisations and persecute journalists.
In view of the above, IPI calls on the Zimbabwean government to refrain from harassing and intimidating the media and to introduce a media policy in Zimbabwe which is in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which gives everyone the right to "hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media. ."
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We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz Director
BACKGROUND:
Zimbabwe was placed on the IPI Watch List on 20 October 2001. In its press release IPI said, "[It] is deeply concerned at attempts to extinguish press freedom in the country against a background of government support for this activity and reluctance to prosecute offenders, restrictions imposed, or contemplated, by the government on the media, and the breakdown of the rule of law."
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Similar appeals can be sent to:
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe Office of the President Causeway, Harare Zimbabwe Fax: + 263 4 728 799 / 708 820 / 734 644
