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Notice of Intention to suspend or cancel registration certificate
Media and Information Commission (MIC)
January 05, 2005

Below is the full text of the notice of intention to suspend the Weekly Times’ publishing licence issued and signed for by Dr Tafataona Mahoso on 5 January 2005 (Ref: MISA-Zimbabwe Media Alert issued 7 January 2005.)

The Media and Information Commission is in receipt of the statutory copies of the Weekly Times which were delivered today, 5 January 2005.

We understand that the paper came out on Sunday, 2 January 2005 and was being sold on the streets here long before copies were delivered at the Commission. As a result, the Commission had to purchase a copy on the streets on 4 January, after receiving several calls from surprised readers.

Having read the paper, the Commission wishes to notify you that the product delivered is not what you were registered to produce. Please study the papers you filed with the Commission. Compare the product envisioned there with this, your first issue.

The Commission wishes to bring your attention to the following discrepancies:

1. In your letter to the Commission, dated 8 July 2004, you stated that "Mthwakazi Publishing House aims at informing, educating and spearheading development in our country"

2. On page 1 of your market analysis you promised that the Weekly Times would be different from its main competitors: The Sunday News and Trends magazine, because these tend to "concentrate on political issues (rather than developmental). …

3. In the AP1 application form you also pledged that the Weekly Times would "cover general news".

4. Running through all your papers submitted with the application is the pledge to adhere to "impartial reporting and accurate gathering of news." "Mthwakazi Publishing House Private Limited believes for any publication to get larger a market share (sic) it needs to have an impartial reporting, professionalism and integrity …"

"MPH mission toward readers is to provide accurate impartial news that exceeds an individual reader’s needs and expectations.

We will benchmark ourselves against World class media houses to the standards for accurate and impartial reporting and to achieve sustained organic growth and value creation for all stakeholders … Impartiality and honesty will be a key to our ethical. obligation. Our work environment will be filled with professionalism, commitment and excitement."

"Our aim is to provide Zimbabweans, Africans and the world with impartial reporting to embody a culture of excellence in every sphere of our business."

Codes of conduct, like laws, cannot substitute for a sense of honesty, fairness and decency. Ultimately the ethical conduct of the affairs of Mthwakazi Publishing House Private Limited depends upon the actions of all its employees."

What the Weekly Times is

1. The paper is not a general news vehicle. It is a running political commentary through ad through. Eight major pieces are of this character.
2. The paper makes no attempt at impartial reporting. The lead story is a clear sectarian view of the President of Zimbabwe by one religious man and it is …
3. The pledge to uphold rules of fairness, impartial reporting, honesty and integrity meant at a minimum that there would be a clear distinction between reportage and opinion; there would be clear evidence of efforts by all the writers to make that distinction. This is not the case.
4. Finally, your application also pledged to uphold profession excellence in journalism. Apart from the fraudulent letters to the editor, there is also real sloppiness. The political commentaries started on page 1 and allegedly continued on page 5 are in fact started all over again and never concluded.

There is also a clear attempt to avoid giving the paper and its editorial team a definite identity. Every genuine newspaper identifies itself by means of a masthead and an imprint page.

The imprint page identifies the publisher, the directors, the Editor-in-Chief, the Editor, Managing Editor, News Editor, Business Editor and so on depending on what actually applies to its situation.

The letters page is reserved for real readers and cannot accommodate your editorial charter as is the case on page 4. These problems put in serious doubt your claim to possess the capacity to produce a professional newspaper.

Section 71 (1) (a) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act states that:

Subject to this section, the Commission may, whether on its own initiative or upon investigation of a complaint made by any interested person against the mass media service, suspend or cancel the registration certificate of a mass media service if it has a reasonable grounds for believing that-

In its application papers to the Media and Information Commission, Mthwakazi Publishing House Private Limited did not state its true intention in setting up the Weekly Times. In fact it sought to mislead the Commission about the nature of the newspaper and genre of journalism it sought to promote.

For this reason, the Commission intends to suspend or cancel the registration certificate of Mthwakazi Publishing House Private Limited.

You are accordingly called upon within seven days, to show cause why your publishing licence should not be suspended or cancelled.

Due notice has accordingly been given.

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