**We apologise for any cross-posting - The following is being forwarded exactly
as received**

To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), [email protected] [2]

Zimbabwe Alert
May 21, 2003
MISA-SA Statement on Deportation of Guardian correspondent Andrew Meldrum from
Zimbabwe

***The following is a statement from the South African Chapter of the Media
Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-South Africa) on the deportation of Guardian
correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, from Zimbabwe. See www.misa.org [3] for more
information. ***

The summary illegal deportation in defiance of Supreme Court orders of the
London Guardian correspondent Andrew Meldrum from Zimbabwe on May 16 raises
several serious issues which impact on the treatment of journalists, the rule of
law and the conduct of the President and his
officials, states the South African Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern
Africa.

The South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-South
Africa) condemns the deportation as an unwarranted attack on the freedom and
independence of the media and an abrogation of the rights of a journalist to
pursue legal redress against the authoritarian conduct of officials.

He is the sixth foreign correspondent to be deported from Zimbabwe, a clear
indication that the government seeks to prevent information about the political
and economic disaster that it has visited on the country to be reported on.

Coming immediately after the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional clauses
in one of the numerous laws intended to clamp down on reporting on conditions in
Zimbabwe, Meldrum's
deportation represents yet another desperate attempt by the authorities to
resort to illegal means to suppress independent journalism. Other journalists
have been detained with no charges being brought against them or what charges
there were being thrown out by the courts.

Meldrum, an American citizen who has lived in Zimbabwe for 23 years and has
permanent residence, has been the subject of a year- long campaign of
vilification by the state media. Last year when a deportation order was served
on him, a High Court judge ordered that it be suspended pending his appeal to
the Supreme Court. A court on May 16 issued two further orders forbidding his
deportation and demanding that he be produced in court. Despite this, the
immigration authorities and the police manhandled him into a car, placed a
jacket over his head so that he should not know his destination, ignored the
court order, legal requests by American diplomats and his lawyer to see him and
bundled him on to a late night flight to London.

These numerous illegal acts mean that the rule of law no longer has force and
effect in Zimbabwe and that the government is in breach of African Union and
other protocols promoting good governance, the rule of law and freedom of the
media.

The third important area of concern is that South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki
has stated that he had been assured by President Robert Mugabe that restrictions
on the media were to be eased and human rights abuses eliminated. These events
give the lie to these undertakings and provide yet another instance of Mugabe
breaking his word to his peers.

MISA-South Africa therefore calls on the African Union and the Southern African
Development Community to investigate these unlawful acts and impose sanctions on
Zimbabwe in terms of their protocols. It also calls on President Mbeki publicly
to renounce his policy of "quiet diplomacy" and take firm action against Mugabe
and his top officials by refusing them entrance to SA.

Enquiries:
Raymond Louw
MISA-SA National Governing Council Member
Tel: (011) 646 8790/6085
Fax (011) 646 2596
P O Box 261579
Excom 2023
Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA

Ends

--

--------------------------

Information distributed by:
Zoe Titus
Regional Program Coordinator: Media Freedom Monitoring
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
Cellular: 081 128 3919
e-mail: [email protected] [2]
web: http://www.misa.org [3]

MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
PROMOTING MEDIA DIVERSITY, PLURALISM, SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE

--------------------------

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility of
MISA**