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Threats against foreign correspondents should be taken seriously
Rashweat Mukundu, MISA Zimbabwe
March 19, 2004

Recent utterances by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo that he intends to deal with foreign correspondents who he accuses of "externalising" foreign currency and being "mercenaries" must be taken seriously coming from a man who has a history of carrying out his threats.

Minister Moyo likens journalists to criminals the state is currently targeting for the so called "economic crimes" and that they must also be dealt with. He argues that foreign media houses such as Reuters, Agence France Press and others operating in Zimbabwe are keeping "foreign currency" earned in Zimbabwe outside the country. And that his department has already submitted reports to the police. An interesting aspect in the whole issue is the participation of the department of Information, led by Moyo, in "investigations" against the journalists who are alleged to be externalising foreign currency. Again attention has to be drawn to the real intentions of Moyo in light of the new laws promulgated to deal with such crimes as externalising foreign currency. Moyo’s intention is to send a chilling message to all independent media journalists and have everyone scurry for cover. Such a message intends to create paralysis in the independent media and stop all reporting. MISA-Zimbabwe has over time pointed at the wayward manner in which the Department conducts its business especially against private media and other independent journalists.

The assertions by Moyo need to be taken seriously in light of the closure of The Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday and the serious information vacuum that has been created in Zimbabwe. Whatever independent reporting that still occurs comes from the remaining few newspapers such as the Zimbabwe Independent, the Financial Gazette, and foreign media houses. What clearly ekes Moyo and his peers are the continued reports on state abuses that still find its way into local and foreign media outlets. Such reporting is important if the abuses of power by state organs are to be kept in check. Interestingly enough a significant number of those now accused of "externalising" foreign currency are local journalists some who work for local media houses.

The real intentions of Moyo are therefore to create a wall against any reporting that he perceives as negative ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections and wishfully forever. Moyo dreams of Soviet, Cuban, and North Korea command media operations were himself and the government would be the only sources of news and indeed the disseminators of same. In Zimbabwe, I believe, such an era is gone and never to come back. The threats against independent journalists are not isolated but part of a multi pronged strategy that involves harassing state media journalists who do not show ultimate allegiance to the regime. The recent firing of Sunday Mail news editor Mathew Takaona over spurious allegations of having addressed fellow journalists in his capacity as The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists president, are one pointer of this harassment. Moyo’s stranglehold on the state media has become a permanent feature of his propaganda machinery. Any pretence that the state media is being run democratically has been erased as parliament, the custodian of Zimbabwe’s assets is left out in any decision on how the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Zimpapers are run. Journalists working for these institution are virtual prisoners of the system and evidently moral is low.

There is no doubt that harassment of journalist would be redoubled, but doubts linger on whether that would stem focus on Zimbabwe. The ultimate solution is to focus on the real crisis in Zimbabwe that is a political and economic crisis. Shooting the messenger is no solution.

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