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Sentenced to silence
Mail & Guardian
May 20, 2004

By David Masunda

In the latest attack on the beleaguered Zimbabwean press, the editor of the independent newspaper The Standard and a reporter were arrested by police this week for a story on the murder of a mining magnate. The Standard’s editor, Bornwell Chakaodza, and reporter Valentine Maponga had been held at Harare Central Police Station for four hours on Wednesday and were being led to the cells when police suddenly summoned them back to be warned, cautioned and released. A senior officer warned that police would move "by way of a summons" if they still felt there were grounds to prosecute the two, who can be arrested again at any time. The story, written by Maponga, was based on an interview with the brother of slain mining boss Leonard Chimimba, who said the family felt his death had not been accidental but was an assassination ordered by government officials. The journalists were picked up under the Public Order and Security Act and initially charged under Section 15, which covers publishing or communicating a false statement prejudicial to the state.

Zimbabwe’s small but vibrant in-dependent media are under siege as Zanu PF tightens its grip on what it considers dissenting voices, which have to be silenced before next year’s general election. "Since the closure of the Daily News, the government’s attention has turned to the remaining independent newspapers," said Rashweat Mukundu of the private Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe Chapter (Misa-Zimbabwe). "As we get towards the election, there is certainly going to be an escalation [of the campaign] against the private media." Two weeks ago The Standard’s senior reporter, Savious Kwinika, was brutally assaulted in Bulawayo by people he believes were Zanu PF members. He was returning from a rally organised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Lupane, about 180km from Bulawayo. Late last year Tafataona Mahoso, the head of the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) tried to whip up public sentiment against The Standard and its sister publication, the Zimbabwe Independent, accusing them of demonising the state.

When The Standard recently interviewed Zimbabwean Vice-President Joseph Msika, who said he was trying to stop the confiscation of a lucrative private commercial farm by certain government ministers, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused the paper of "spreading lies". According to Misa-Zimbabwe, the country has, since 2000, topped the list as the most repressive country in the SADC region. Misa recorded 360 "alerts" from Zimbabwe between 2000 and last year alone. Alerts are sent by journalists and media organisations when they have been attacked or are under threat. Alerts from Zimbabwe constituted 54% of the total received from 10 other countries in the region last year. Misa-Zimbabwe itself has not been spared. It is currently in court fighting off state orders that it be registered by the MIC.

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