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South
African radio stations refused accreditation to cover elections
Media Institute
of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek
March
29, 2005
Zimbabwean authorities
have refused accreditation to the South Africa-based Talk Radio
702 and 567 CapeTalk radio stations to cover 31 March 2005 general
elections in Zimbabwe. The stations were informed of the decision
on 23 March. No reasons were given for the refusal.
A statement
released by Primedia, the owner of the sister stations, indicated
that a senior Zimbabwean Information Department official had reportedly
described Talk Radio 702 as being "hostile" towards Zimbabwe. The
station was also refused accreditation to cover the last presidential
election.
In response
to the decision, Talk Radio 702's news editor Katy Katopodis said,
"This is a blow to media freedom and makes it harder to report the
truth on the ground. We applied to have three journalists in the
country to cover pre- and post-election issues."
Katopodis added,
"Irrespective of whether we're allowed in or not, 702 Eyewitness
News will continue to report on the situation in Zimbabwe. We will
not be muzzled (. . .)"
Yusuf Abramjee,
the group head of Primedia Broadcasting's news and talk programming,
said, "Not to allow independent stations like 702 and 567 into Zimbabwe
raises serious questions about whether the elections will be free
and fair. We are disappointed at the Zimbabwean government's decision,
and are being inundated with calls from listeners and NGO's who've
expressed shock at the decision."
Talk Radio 702
and 567 CapeTalk applied for permission to cover the elections simultaneously.
567 CapeTalk
news editor Charlotte Kilbane said, "We will continue to follow
developments closely and keep our listeners informed of the changing
situation in what will prove to be an important election for our
northern neighbour. The Zimbabwean government may be able to block
its borders to us, but information can't be managed and the truth
will come out"
BACKGROUND:
Last month three journalists, Jan Raath and Brian Latham, who work
for a number of British and South African news organisations, and
Angus Shaw, of the Associated Press, left Zimbabwe after their offices
were raided and they were interrogated by police about allegations
that they broke the country's media and security laws (see IFEX
alerts of 23, 18 and 16 February 2005). Following their departure,
only a handful of foreign correspondents remain in Zimbabwe, including
the tiny Reuters and AFP bureaux.
Earlier this
month the government-controlled Media and Information Commission
cancelled the "Weekly Times" newspaper's licence (see alerts of
1 March and 12 January 2005). The "Weekly Times" was the fourth
independent newspaper to be closed in Zimbabwe since 2002.
The "Daily News",
the "Daily News on Sunday", and the "Tribune" were all closed previously
(see alerts of 15 March 2005, 22 September, 15, 14 and 10 June,
11 and 6 February, 23, 22, 16, 13 and 12 January 2004, and others).
In January 2005, President Robert Mugabe signed a law requiring
journalists to be accredited by the government (see alerts of 11
January 2005, 11 November, 18 October, 25 June and 6 February 2004,
and others).
For further
information, contact Zoé Titus, Programme Manager, Media
Freedom Monitoring, MISA, Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel:
+264 61 232 975, fax: +264 61 248 016, e-mail: research@misa.org,
Internet: http://www.misa.org
The information
contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of MISA.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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