State of the Media Report December 2002

Included in the Report

1. Introduction

2. Media Legal and Political environment

3. Private Media

4. Public Media

5. Broadcasting

6. Telecommunications

7. Media Violations: 2002 Statistics

1. INTRODUCTION

Zimbabwe is presently suspended somewhere between the complete repression of the private media and half hearted “attempts” to be seen to be adhering to democratic principles and regulating “within the law”.

Although the year 2000 is largely seen as the turning point or watershed in the post independence history of Zimbabwe, 2002 provided a new set of challenges that have literally torn Zimbabwe apart. Not only is the country faced with seemingly insurmountable economic and political problems, specific to issues of media freedoms, the environment has deteriorated even further.

2002 saw the enactment of AIPPA , an all inclusive media and freedom of expression law that however does not carry the fundamental ingredients of an Access to Information law. Many laws that deal with issues of broadcasting and public order were enacted, some in 2001, but the effects of such became more apparent and operational in 2002. These include the Broadcasting Services Act, ZBC Commercialization Act and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

Media workers including journalists, photographers, vendors, camerapersons, drivers have been beaten, arrested and intimidated on many occasions, in the course of duty. The political polarization prevailing has manifested itself in the treatment that the media gets from various sectors of the Zimbabwe society. Newspapers have been labeled and are treated different by politicians from opposing parties. The worst developments however are the attempts to legalize repression of the media through the enactment of blatantly unconstitutional laws. These laws, mentioned above, have thus been used to arrest, intimidate and harass journalists and media workers. Although state media journalists have not been spared the harassment and beatings, all arrests that have been carried out by the police in 2002 were on private media journalists. The impression created has therefore been that the new laws are for the private media and others who are seen as belonging to the “opposition” and not for the rest of the media or society at large. The courts have either dismissed many cases involving journalists or the state has not bothered to make a follow up on the arrests. 2002 therefore registered an unprecedented number of arrests on media workers.

Whereas the government has extended its stranglehold of the private media through the enactment of such laws as AIPPA and POSA, the state owned media has equally remained under the grip of the Department of Information and Publicity in the President’s Office. It is not known in the public sphere how the public media is being run but it is public knowledge as to who is running it and the reporting says it all.

One drawback to all the media and qausi-media laws is their total lack of the inclusion of developmental aspects and needs of the people of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe like many third world countries is still media thin and apart from the drought of rain in 2002, there is an ever-present drought of information. The laws enacted are politically correct to their originators but visibly lack a vision on the direction the Zimbabwe’s media is taking in terms of economic empowerment, new information and communication technologies and the general use of the media for developmental purposes. This is amply demonstrated in the telecommunications sector, where an aspiring fixed telephone operator was only licensed in December after protracted uncertainty and indeed the delays in the licensing of private broadcasters has no explanation apart from political considerations. Zimbabwe is thus lagging behind the region and indeed the rest of the world as far as the promulgation of development oriented communication legislation and the development of ICT’s that can be used in, for example, educational programmes is concerned.

2. MEDIA LEGAL AND POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

The traditional media (newspapers and TV) remain sharply divided along the private and public media lines. This is self evident in the nature of the reportage received on a daily basis and issues that are picked for emphasis by the two divides stand miles apart. There was equally an increase in the sharp and vitriolic attacks on journalists by government officials. What is clear in all this is the interface between the political situation in Zimbabwe with the enacted laws and indeed the undemocratic processes that are being used to enact these laws.

Parliamentary bodies constituted of Members of Parliament from the ruling and the oppostion, as the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communicatiosn passed as adverse report on AIPPA, but nothing of this report was heard of in the debate around this law. Despite being similar in form and content to the LOMA , POSA was still pushed through parliament and made into law.

An array of these laws that include AIPPA, POSA, BSA the ZBC Commercialization Act, all infringe on the operations of media houses and freedom of expression and that of association. These laws come at a time when Zimbabwe already has a load of other laws inherited from the colonial era and that infringe on media freedoms. Some of these colonial laws were resuscitated in 2002 and used to arrests journalists. These include the Protected Areas Act and the Censorship Act.

It must be noted that an Access to Information law cannot exist side by side with other laws that have conflicting prescriptions on accessing information either by the media or members of the public. This means that AIPPA must automatically have seen the repealing of such laws as the Official Secrets Act and some mentioned above. An access to Information law in a democratic country is usually a law of appeal because governments and the corporate world must as matters of necessity, transparency and accountability have mechanisms that allow access to information without the any reference to any law. Indeed the experience in many countries with democracy deficiencies is that such a law is killed at birth. This is the current matter with AIPPA in Zimbabwe which infact closes out those in need of information that opening up.

The laws compound an already unstable political environment. There are still some areas, which remain “No Go” areas for journalists. It remains next to impossible for the private media for example to operate freely in Zimbabwe’s rural areas. Copies of the private papers have been destroyed and vendors beaten up on many occasions. The victims of the violence are not necessarily journalists alone as a number of innocent people have been caught up.

The fact that privately owned newspapers no longer reach rural areas means that all the information that is received by nearly 70 percent of the people of Zimbabwe comes from the government media. This is compounded by the fact that there are no private broadcasters yet.

3. PRIVATE MEDIA

The private media in Zimbabwe is still dominated by the print media. Prominent stables include the Associated Newspapers group which prints The Daily News, ZimInd Publishers the publishers of the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard, SAPPHO , publishers of the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror, the Africa Media Group Publishers of the Business and Weekend Tribune and Modus Publications, the publishers of the Financial Gazette. The Africa Media Group, publishers of the Business and Weekend Tribune and The Daily and Sunday Mirror are new members of the family having come aboard in 2002.

Zimbabwe has a number of community newspapers published in small towns and whose readership is mostly restricted to those areas. There are no licensed private broadcasters yet. The Voice of the People Trust, which was broadcasting its programmes to Zimbabwe using short wave, had its offices bombed in 2002. The police has made no arrest or report on the investigations. SW radio Africa is another private radio station beaming programmes to Zimbabwe on short wave from London. SW Radio Africa is staffed mainly by Zimbabweans in exile and these people have since been declared person non-grata by the Zimbabwe government. They face the threat of imminent arrest if ever they come back to Zimbabwe. Radio Dialogue is another community broadcasting initiative by the people of Bulawayo, which is yet to be licensed. The government has indicated that Radio Dialogue would not be licensed, allegedly, because it is donor funded.

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) invited applications for subscription satellite, road casting, narrow casting, commercial satellite uplink and data casting broadcasting licenses. Applications for Satellite broadcasting received an overwhelming response with four applications being made. Interviews were conducted but the authority has since announced that none of the applicants were successful. ZBC therefore remains the sole broadcaster in Zimbabwe.

The reportage of the private media has mainly focused on the lack of good governance and the social and economic collapse currently being experienced in Zimbabwe. This has naturally brought this section of the media into conflict with the government. The private media has therefore been accused of being stooges of western countries especially Britain. The government based its accusations on some statements made by an American government official that they were working with journalists to “topple” the government. The private media has since denied and dismissed these accusations and argues that its reporting is and has always been on the situation and events in Zimbabwe. The private media has also argued that the government must be held accountable for its actions, and that it must be transparent in its operations. There has however been incidences in which the private media failed to follow strict journalism ethics that only served to give the government excuses to further persecute journalists.

4. PUBLIC MEDIA

The public media in Zimbabwe remains under the tight control of the Department of Information and Publicity in the Presidents Office. The government through the department has argued that the media must be directed to report on the developmental needs of the country and criticism must be “progressive”. This has meant that the reportage of the public media supports the ongoing land reform process and the ruling party as the implementers of that programme.

The Public media includes the ZBC and Zimpapers in which the state has a controlling equity and the Community Newspapers Group (CNG). The ZMMT is dead and all pretences that the public media would be managed “independently” are all but gone. Although no public or official statements have been made on how the public media especially Zimpapers is being run, it also public knowledge that the Department of Information in the presidents Office is directing affairs. The result of this is that national assets are being used partisanly and have ceased to be representative of everyone in society.

People, political parties, business leaders, civic society organizations who hold different views to the government on national issues are never given a voice by the public media but demonized day in and day out. The argument again from those in control of the public media is that Zimbabwe is at “war” with its detractors and it is the duty of everyone in Zimbabwe to support the government not only in its quest to economically emancipate the majority black people but also do away with all vestiges of colonialism and neo colonialism once and for all. In this “war” one of the victims has been ethical and balanced reporting.

It is also important to note that the public media is, to say the least, insolvent in terms of its financial status and many restructuring exercises have but failed to recuperate the financial position of the ZBC, CNG and Zimpapers. The ZBC, which retrenched over half of its staff in 2002, had to borrow in order to finance the retrenchment programme. Zimpapers on the other hand was nearly suspended by the ZSE for failing to publish annual audited accounts. The report that was published by the company shows that it is the red.

Inflammatory and hate language dominates much of the reporting of the public media Words such as terrorist, enemies of the state, stooges, oppositional are familiar in the state media. The state media has not been spared the violence and on occasions opposition supporters have harassed and threatened to beat up journalists from the public media. The state media, which is supported by the taxpayer, has totally failed to live to expectations.

Calls for reforms to be made in the operations of the public media have not been headed so far. Criticism of the public media have come not only from those who are seen as the “opposition” but in 2002 the Chairperson of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, Gula Ndebele commented after the March Presidential elections that the ZBC had been reporting unethically and partisanly. The Commonwealth and the SADC parliamentary Forum Election Observer Missions also noted in their reports on the March Presidential elections that the public media was biased.

There is however no hope that the current management of the public media will change any time soon. In the view of MISA-Zimbabwe it would take something more than just recognition of the need for balanced reporting to change the situation but a complete policy turnaround, which cannot be achieved without the requisite political will.

5. BROADCASTING

As mentioned earlier, Zimbabwe has only one terrestrial/ free to Air, broadcasting station, ZBC, which is state owned. No private players are yet to be licensed in the area.

Under the ZBC Commercialization Act, the ZBC was spilt into two companies in 2002. Transmedia was thus born out of the split and its purpose is to offer transmission and signal services to the ZBC and any other private broadcasters who might come in the future. Transmedia so far has a monopoly in transmitters and signal service provision. There is however room in the Broadcasting Services Act for one other company to be licensed.

The Department of Information has been indicating since 2001 that it has plans to launch another television station to be called New ZIANA . The new media house is intended to be born out of the ashes of the old ZIANA. The broadcasting station is widely expected to use the ZBC second channel generally known as TV 2. It has however been reported on several occasions that the multi billion project is unlikely to see the day because of lack of funding. No financial allocation was provided in the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 national budgets for this exercise.

TV2 was until May 2002 being loaned to Joy TV. This arrangement was terminated at the expiry of that contract on the grounds that it violated the Broadcasting Services Act. Joy TV that is owned by a consortium of Zimbabweans has indicated that it is still interested in broadcasting and has chosen to take the political route in seeking a licence.

There is however a satellite broadcasting company, which is providing services to Zimbabwe. MultiChoice is a South African based company that is providing a variety of satellite programmes to Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa. Satellite television is therefore providing an alternative voice of information. The problem however is that satellite subscription fees are payable in United States Dollars and many Zimbabweans cannot afford and the equipment that is needed is generally expensive for ordinary Zimbabweans. The audience reach of satellite television is therefore limited and its viewer ship has remained elitist.

The weaknesses in the Broadcasting Law are aptly demonstrated by the non-existence on guidance on how new information technologies are to be incorporated in the media development. Broadcasting the world over has moved from the traditional TV and radio to satellite and Internet based broadcasting. Whereas the Zimbabwe government is keen on restricting the receipt of alternative information by its citizens, broadcasting is taking place in Zimbabwe through the Internet, wireless communication and satellite. These forms of broadcasting are unfortunately expensive for the ordinary person who has no choice but to switch on to ZBC. The non-existence of policy on the new information technologies means that Zimbabwe is lagging behind the rest of the world in many respects. Zimbabwe’s current laws can, in short, be described as anti poor, politically correct and self-serving.

6. TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The significant development in 2002 in this sector was the licensing on TeleAccess after a wait that nearly amounted to eternity. TeleAccess is owned by a Zimbabwean and has been seeking a license to operate Zimbabwe’s second fixed telephone service since 2000. And on 3 December 2002 that license was finally granted.

Though it is not clear what procedure was used to grant the license, many Zimbabweans see this development as positive in terms of the provision of services. The other state owned fixed telephone service; TelOne is struggling to satisfy the market and offering quality service at the same time.

The expected privatization of TelOne is yet to take place and there are indications that the international, technical partners who had been short-listed are growing cold feet due to the political and economic uncertainty facing Zimbabwe. The political and economic volatility currently being experienced has impacted negatively on wireless phone service providers who are struggling to offer quality service due to the no availability of foreign currency to purchase spare parts and general servicing of their systems. Expansion plans have therefore been stalled.

Wireless communication has also been affected by the ballooning prices of goods. Cell phone handsets and call charges have gone up and very few ordinary Zimbabwean can afford them.

Zimbabwe’s Internet service business continues to grow beside confused policy frameworks. New entries by other players were registered in 2002.

The telecommunications sector is still dogged by confused policies and this is adversely affecting development in this area. The POTRAZ board was dismissed in 2002 and is yet to be replaced. Political interference and lack of independent decision making by the authorities has generally hampered the operations of the authority. MISA-Zimbabwe believes that until and when such authorities are led by competent professionals with knowledge of what is needed in this industry, the future is doomed.

7. MEDIA VIOLATIONS STATISTICS 2002

Arrests

Victim Charge Date
Thabo Kunene BBC correspondent Arrested without charge in Lupane released after one hour 29 January 2002
Rhodah Mashavane, Foster Dongozi (Daily News) and Cornelius Nduna (The Standard) Arrested and charged under POSA for participating in a demonstration, released after four hours 30 January 2002
Basildon Peta Arrested and charged under POSA for allegedly organizing a demonstration 4 February 2002
Moses Oguti: Botswana Journalist Arrested under the Immigration Act for allegedly having illegally crossed into Zimbabwe released on 25 April 2002 17 February 2002
Newton Spicer (Spicer Productions) Arrested and detained while covering an opposition demonstration. Released after five hours. Video camera confiscated but returned on 25 February. 19 February 2002
Edwina Spicer and Jackie Cahi Charged under the Protected Areas Act for allegedly filming the state house. Camera taken & the two are released after 5 hours. Arrested while filming the MDC leader who had been summoned to the police station which is near the state house 18 February 2002
Peta Thornycroft correspondent for British paper Arrested under AIPPA and POSA in Chimanimani while on course of duty. Released on 31 March 2002. 27 March 2002
Geoff Nyarota Arrested and charged under AIPPA for publishing a story that the Registrar General misrepresented figures on the Presidential election 15 April 2002
Dumisani Muleya: Chief Reporter Zimbabwe Independent Arrested and charged under AIPPA and Criminal defamation for allegedly lying that the first lady was involved in a bid to take over a company with his brother 15 April 2002 (Criminal defamation) and 17 April (AIPPA)
Iden Wetherell Editor Zimbabwe Independent Charged under AIPPA (See Muleya’s first lady story) 17 April 2002
Geoff Nyarota and Lloyd Mudiwa, Collin Chiwanza (Daily News) Arrested and charged under AIPPA for writing that an opposition member had been beheaded by ruling party supporters. The journalists were released on bail on 2 May. The story was proved to be false and the paper apologized. Matter referred to the Supreme Court on 24 July. 30 April 2002
Andrew Meldrum correspondent for a British paper Arrested and charged under AIPPA. (See Mudiwa and Chiwanza story). , Magistrate finds Meldrum innocent on 15 July 1 May 2002
Pius Wakatama (Daily News columnists) Charged under AIPPA for commenting on the alleged incompetence of the Registrar General’s office concerning the vote counting 6 May 2002
Assel Gwekwerere and Aaron Ufumeli (Daily News) Arrested while taking photographs of an arrested criminal. Police thought the two were part of a gang they had waylaid in an undercover operation. Released after hours of interrogation. Film confiscated 7 May 2002
Brian Mangwende (Daily News) Arrested for allegedly writing a false story that teachers were being harassed. Released after two hours. No charges were preferred. 10 May 2002
Bornwell Chakodza and Farai Mutsaka (The Standard) Arrested and charged under AIPPA for writing that the police have bought anti riot gear. Released on bail on 17 May. 15 May 2002
Bornwell Chakaodza and Fungayi Kanyuchi (The Standard) Arrested and charged under AIPPA for writing that the police were involved in “sex for freedom deals” with sex workers. 15 May released on bail 17 May 2002
Bornwell Chakaodza Editor and Fungayi Kanyuchi (Entertainment Editor) The Standard Arrested and charged under the Censorship and entertainment Controls Act for publishing picture captions of semi naked alleged sex workers accompanied by a story on the police’s “sex for freedom deals” with sex workers. 21 May 2002
Bornwell Chakaodza and Farai Mutsaka Arrested and Charged under AIPPA for writing that the Department of Information is mooting editorial changes at the state owned media 23 May 2002
Bornwell Chakaodza and Fungayi Kanyuchi Arrested and charged under AIPPA for writing a story that the police were unfairly arresting private media journalists. The story was titled “The Private Media’s burden” and was partly a narration of Kanyuchi’s experiences in police cells 28 May 2002
Iden Wetherell Editor (Zimbabwe Independent) Charged under the Censorship Act for publishing a picture of semi naked Amazonian man playing football in his traditional attire 30 May 2002
Guthrie Munyukwi (Reporter), Urgurnia Mauluka (Photographer) and Shadreck Mukwecheni (Driver) Daily News Arrested, beaten and charged under POSA while covering a pro constitutional reform demonstration in Harare released 17 June 2002 16 June 2002
Chris Gande (Daily News) Bulawayo Arrested and charged under AIPPA for allegedly publishing falsehoods about the vice president 4 July 2002
Stanley Karombo (Freelance) Harassed and arrested for five hours while covering the Kadoma mayoral elections. 25 July
Tawanda Majoni (The Daily Mirror) Arrested and Charged under AIPPA and the Police Act for having written falsehoods on the health of the Police Chief and for having resigned from the police unprocedurally. Detained for two days. Sentenced to 3 months in prison but is out of custody pending the hearing on his appeal 12 September 2002
Henry Makiwa (Reporter) Aaron Ufumeli (Photographer) Trust Maswela (Driver) Daily News Arrested and Detained by the police for one and a half hours whilst covering a demonstration by students in Harare. Film confiscated. Released without charge 21 October 2002
Henry Makiwa, Gally Kambeu (Photographer) and Trust Maswela, Daily News Arrested and detained for four hours while covering an anti rape demonstration in Harare. No charges were preferred. 19 November 2002

BOMBED

Victim Date
The Daily News offices in Bulawayo and the Daily press printing company (not related to the Daily News) are petrol bombed in Bulawayo 11 February 2002
Voices of the People (VOP) communications trust offices in Harare. Bombed and property worth millions of dollars is lost 29 August 2002

Beaten

Victim Date
Patrick Jemwa Cameraperson ZBC beaten and seriously injured by soldiers while covering a pro constitutional reform demonstration in Harare 6 April 2002
Urgunia Mauluka, Guthrie Munyuki and Shadreck Mukwecheni (Daily News) beaten and injured by the police while on duty. 16 June 2002
Urgunia Mauluka (Daily News) was assaulted by a high profile corruption suspect at the High Court in Harare 6 May 2002

Killed

Victim Date
Shepherd Ngundu a teacher in the rural area of Mount Darwin beaten to death for possessing a copy of The Daily News 5 February 2002

Harassed / Threats

Victim Incident Date
Daily News and The Financial Gazette Newspapers destroyed by ZANU PF youths on their way to the airport 10 January 2002
Basildon Peta former Secretary General of ZUJ Peta’s house is forcibly searched by the police 31 January 2002
Daily News Offices in Bulawayo Campaign posters of President Mugabe are pasted all over the outside walls of the building 8 February 2002
Private Media President Mugabe castigates the private media on a visit to Beira Mozambique accusing it of lying and being used by the west 17 February 2002
Private Media, freedom of expression AIPPA signed into law by President Mugabe 15 March 2002
Daily News Vendors Tongai Manomano and Munyaradzi Mapingo are beaten and newspapers destroyed by 15 ruling party youths in the town of Rusape 20 March 2002
Geoff Nyarota Threatened with arrest by Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo over a story that appeared in the Daily News 27 March 2002
Peta Thornycroft Denied access to her lawyer the first day after being arrested on 27 March. She was released on 31 March 2002 27 March 2002
Radio Dialogue Bulawayo Raided by the police, searched and some documents and tapes are confiscated 16 April 2002
Marceline Nyangoni ZBC reporter Threatened with ejection from a meeting that was addressed by the mayor of Harare 24 April 2002
The Daily News Information Minister urges government departments and parastatals to stop advertising in the paper 29 April 2002
Transmedia State owned signal transmission company is licensed. The company is so far the sole signal transmission company. 3 May 2002
The Daily News The State owned Bulawayo based daily paper The Chronicle calls for the banning of the Daily News in a front page lead story 3 May 2002
State Media, The Herald, The Chronicle and ZBC Barred from covering an MDC rally in Bulawayo 7 May 2002
The Daily News Ruling party ZANU PF to sue the paper for writing that its supporters beheaded a woman. The paper apologized saying it was misled 13 May 2002
Foreign Correspondents Association Supreme court rules that its challenge of AIPPA will not be heard as an urgent matter 16 May 2002
The Daily News and The Standard Sued by Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena for defamation over stories that said that he once served in the colonial force 21 May 2002
Chris Gande Daily News Bulawayo Thrown out of court by prison officers 28 June 2002
Capitol Radio Challenges the broadcasting Act and seeks a license to operate. The supreme court reserved judgment and is yet to deliver it so far i.e. end of 2002 I July 2002
Zimbabwe private media and journalists In a Sunday Mail story Information Minister Moyo threatens that media houses and journalists who do not register will be arrested 23 June 2002
Voice of the People Communications Trust (VOP) Raided by the police and tapes and files are confiscated. These were later returned. 4 July 2002
Media Houses and journalists The Media and Information Commission sets 31 October 2002 as the deadline for registration. 11 July 2002
Aspiring Satellite Broadcasters Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe announces that none of the four aspiring satellite broadcasters applications for a license have been approved by Minister Moyo 11 July2002
Precious Shumba, Daily News and Peta Thornycroft British Daily Telegraph Held hostage by war veterans and ruling party supporters for five hours together with a commercial farmer they were interviewing at a farm 26 km to the west of Harare 14 August 2002
ZBC Bomb threat made in a phone call at the Mbare Studios. A search however finds nothing 13 September 2002
The Daily News Information Minister Moyo calls on advertisers and readers to abandon the paper after a story that President Mugabe was snubbed by his colleagues at a regional meeting 8 October 2002
The Daily News 450 Newspapers confiscated by youths from the Border Gezi National Service Programme in Mutare, The vendors are threatened. Such incidents continued throughout the year and many are not recorded 9 October 2002
Media, freedom of expression The government announces plans to amend AIPPA. 11 October 2002
The Herald Four opposition MDC MPs threaten to sue and call on the police to arrests the editor and journalists of the paper for writing falsehoods 25 October 2002
The Financial Gazette, and Assistant Editor Abel Mutsakani and Political editor Sydney Masamvu Attacked by Minister Moyo and his Permanent Secretary George Charamba and threatened with arrests over two stories that appeared in the paper on 24 October 25 October 2002
Blessing Zulu, Zimbabwe Independent and Pedzisai Ruhanya, Daily News Threatened with shooting by police Assistant Inspector Dowa at the home of deceased MDC MP Learnmore Jongwe 25 October 2002
Radar Private (ltd) and private media Threatened by Chimanimani based Central Intelligence Operative Joseph Mwale that he will not allow an aerial media tour of its (Radar) fire destroyed plantations because private media journalists are not welcome. 26 October 2002
Media houses and journalists Tafataona Mahoso the Chairperson of the Media and Information Commission extends the accreditation and registration deadline to 21 November 25 October 2002
Journalists Ruling party spokesperson and former information Minister Nathan Shamuyarira calls for tougher media laws 25 October 2002
TeleAccess and CEO Daniel Shumba Expresses frustration at the delays in the issuing of a licence to the company for the provision of fixed telephone services. Shumba cites political interference and decries the infringement on freedom of expression. I November 2002
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe’s Information and Justice Ministers threaten Zimbabweans working for the station with arrest if they return to the country 13 November 2002
Private Media Information Minister castigates private media alleging that it is unpatriotic 18 November 2002
Zimbabwe Union of journalists Loses a case to the media and Information Commission in which it sought that its concerns over the accreditation form be heard as an urgent matter. 18 November 2002
Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ) Challenge to AIPPA instituted by IJAZ is heard in the Supreme Court 21 November

Banned/Deported

Victim Case Date
Sally Sara Australia Broadcasting Corporation Denied accreditation and entry into Zimbabwe to cover the political events before the March elections 25 January 2002
David Blair, British Daily Telegraph Deported upon arrival in Zimbabwe 17 February 2002
Foreign Correspondents The Department of Information and Publicity denied accreditation to many journalists from Britain and South Africa who intended to cover the March Presidential elections The Department announced that 580 had been accredited but other sources contacted by MISA say only 72 foreign correspondents were accredited 20 February 2002
Radio Dialogue Promotional show in Plumtree stopped by the police on grounds that it was not sanctioned as required under POSA 21 February 2002
Book Café Banned from hosting public meetings that might include political discussions as defined under POSA 28 March 2002
Joy TV “Banned” from flighting BBC news in its programmes 8 May 2002
Joy TV Contract with ZBC ends and is not renewed and station is closed. 31 May 2002
Andrew Meldrum Ordered to leave Zimbabwe in 24 hours by the Immigration department after winning his court case. On 17 July the High Court set aside the order 15 July 2002
Griffin Shea (AFP) correspondent Deported after the Department of Information refused to have his work permit renewed 14 September 2002
MISA-Zimbabwe Broadcasting open the airwaves campaign road show banned by the police only to be allowed to go on 31 November 2002. 9 September 2002
Owen Slot (British, The Times and Huw Turbervill (Daily Mail) Denied visas and accreditation to visit Zimbabwe in the company of the ICC to inspect Zimbabwe’s preparedness to host the cricket world cup. 26 November 2002
Stephanie Barbier (AFP Bureau Chief) Ordered out of Zimbabwe after the refusal of the Department of Information to extend the accreditation. 27 November 2002

Victory

Parties Matter Date
Journalists, Media houses Parliamentary Legal Committee declares some sections of AIPPA as unconstitutional 30 January 2002
Basildon Peta Attorney General refuses to prosecute Basildon Peta who is charged with organizing an illegal demonstration. 5 February 2002
NDA ZBC ordered by the High Court to bring back the NDA live TV talk show programme “Talk to the nation” banned in 2001. ZBC appealed against the ruling on 22 August 2002 30 May 2002
Andrew Meldrum High court sets aside a deportation order pending the hearing of the matter by the Supreme Court 17 July
The Daily News, Geoff Nyarota and Lloyd Mudiwa The Attorney General admits in the matter between Nyarota, Mudiwa Vs the state that section 80 of AIPPA under which they are being charged is unconstitutional. Matter has since been refereed to the Supreme court for a constructional determination of section 80. The two were remanded to February 2003 29 October 2002
Bornwell Chakaodza and Farai Mutsaka The state withdrew charges on the two. The journalists were being charged under section 80 of AIPPA for having published a story that the state had purchased anti riot gear. 3 December 2002
TeleAccess The fixed telephone service company is given a license 3 December 2002

For any comments, queries and or questions on this reports please contact

Rashweat Mukundu
Research and Information Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
221 Fife Ave
Box HR 8113
Harare
Zimbabwe
Phone 00 263 4 735 44/2, 721 841
E-mail [email protected]

******************************************************************************