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Demonstrators destroy newspapers, beat up vendors
Media Institute of Southern Africa - Zimbabwe Chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe)
June 03, 2003

Ruling party ZANU PF supporters destroyed thousands of copies of the privately owned newspaper The Daily News since the beginning of a nationwide stay away called for by the main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change or MDC on Monday 2 June.

The Associated Newspapers Group or ANZ said that it lost more 2500 copies of newspapers on 2 June alone. These papers, the company said, are worth $375 000 (Approx US$500). In the town of Marondera 75 kilometers east of Harare, MISA-Zimbabwe Legal Officer Wilbert Mandinde witnessed hundreds of copies of The Daily News, The Financial Gazette, and The Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent being destroyed as well. Such incidences were recorded in other towns such as Kwekwe, Bulawayo and Gweru.

The destruction of independent papers especially The Daily News continued, Tuesday 3 June in Harare’s city centre. Readers found reading or with a copy of The Daily News were also beaten by the ZANU PF supporters.

The ruling party accuse the Daily News of supporting the five days stay away called for by the MDC.

Newspapers vendors were harassed and some beaten when the papers were destroyed.

The Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo also launched an attack on the Daily News on Monday accusing the paper of writing a false story over a high court judgement stopping the stay away. The Minister accused the paper of working with the MDC and also not verifying facts when writing stories. The Daily News quoted extensively the MDC leadership's objections to the court order that they said had many anomalies.

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