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Threat to ban new publication
MISA-Zimbabwe
January 07, 2005

The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC), has threatened the recently launched independent publication, The Weekly Times, that it risks imminent closure for allegedly misleading the Commission on the thrust of its editorial policy.

The Weekly Times which is published in Bulawayo by Mthwakazi Publishing House in Bulawayo, hit the streets for the first time on Sunday, 2 January 2005.

In a letter addressed to the paper's chief executive Godfrey Ncube, dated 5 January 2005, some three days after its launch, MIC executive chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso, notified the publishing company that it risked having its licence suspended or cancelled.

Mahoso says that the publishing company had told the MIC that the Weekly Times aimed to "inform, educate, spearhead development in the country and uphold the rules of fairness, impartial reporting, honesty and integrity".

The MIC, however, now suspects that the publishers had misled the Commission upon observing that it is not a "general news vehicle" as had been pledged in its application papers, said Mahoso.

"It is a running political commentary through and through. The paper makes no attempt at impartial reporting," says Mahoso in his letter, a copy of which is in the possession of MISA-Zimbabwe.

Mahoso was apparently irked by the weekly's lead story in which it interviewed Archbishop Pius Ncube, an arch-critic of President Robert Mugabe.

In the interview, the outspoken Catholic cleric accuses President Mugabe of allegedly remaining "unrepented" following the army's alleged massacre of innocent civilians in Matabeleland during the early 1980 dissident insurgency.

Mahoso says the story represented a "clear sectarian view" of the President of Zimbabwe.

It was for that reason, among other issues, that the Commission intends to suspend or cancel the paper's registration certificate in terms of Section 71 (a) of the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The threat against the newspaper is widely viewed as part of the government's onslaught against the independent press ahead of the parliamentary elections slated for March this year.

It also comes on the back of the government's ban of the privately-owned The Daily News and Daily News on Sunday in September 2003 which was followed by that of The Tribune in June 2004.

Under Section 71(1) (a), the Commission has powers to suspend or cancel a licence if it has reasonable grounds for believing that:
"The registration certificate was issued in error or through fraud or there has been a misrepresentation or non-disclosure of a material fact by the mass media concerned."

Mahoso gave the publishing company seven days within which to show cause why its publishing licence should not be suspended or cancelled.

Kucaca Phulu who is representing Mthwakazi Publishing House, told MISA-Zimbabwe that they were looking into the case and would be in a position to shed light on what course of action to take by Monday (10 October 2005).

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