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Zimbabwe
Mirror Newspaper Group's alleged takeover
Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-37
September 26th - October 1st 2005
THE latest developments
at the Zimbabwe Mirror Newspaper Group (ZMNG) are cause for the
gravest concern for those interested in the welfare of Zimbabwe’s
already devastated media community. In its latest update on the
alleged takeover of the group by the government’s Central Intelligence
Organization (CIO), the Zimbabwe Independent (30/9) reported
that former CIO officers on the newspaper group’s board had booted
out its founding member and chief executive, Ibbo Mandaza, in what
it described as "a publicly funded covert operation".
News of Mandaza’s
fate was "officially" corroborated by ZTV (3/10, 8pm)
and The Herald (4/10), which both carried a statement from
the group’s board chairman, Jonathan Kadzura, stating that Mandaza
had been suspended "with immediate effect", although The
Herald carried a comment from Mandaza rejecting his suspension,
claiming that "I am the sole owner of the group…I cannot
be fired or evicted."
Typically, neither
ZTV nor The Herald attempted to explore the background to
this crisis at the Mirror group, and their audiences, appraised
of the situation for the first time, would have been frustrated
at the lack of information about why Mandaza had been suspended,
beyond the terse observation that it followed the submission of
a forensic audit report to the board.
But for the
Independent’s readers, the government media reports merely
served to corroborate the independent weekly’s "Mediagate"
scandal, which it first broke on August 12th. Details
in the Independent’s latest story provide a frightening insight
into the involvement of State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa,
CIO director-general, Happyton Bonyongwe, and Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono. Why these powerful government individuals figure at
all in what is ostensibly a power struggle within a privately owned
newspaper group is compelling evidence of the veracity of the Independent’s
story.
It also provides
details of a new shareholding structure at the Mirror group, although
it doesn’t directly name the individuals in charge of the companies
that are reported to have taken control of ZMNG. According to the
Independent, "sources" claimed the forensic audit
had "uncovered siphoning of money from the Mirror to
Mandaza’s origination firm…and other companies." The
paper also reported that the group had a $20 billion debt with the
Jewel Bank and that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had released
"about $10 billion…to the Mirror in July after a meeting attended
by Mutasa, Bonyongwe, Gono and officials of the Mirror board and
management."
Such revelations
leave little doubt that public funds have been grossly abused to
manipulate the private media landscape in Zimbabwe for the purpose
of ensuring that government agencies control mainstream media institutions
in the country.
In another development
during the week, the Independent reported on the possible
involvement of the CIO in frustrating its own business development,
once again pointing to government attempts to undermine the private
media. This time it reported that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(Zimra) had seized a satellite dish the newspaper was attempting
to import in order to receive stories and pictures from Reuters
news agency.
For six months
Zimra had frustrated the paper’s attempts to have the dish released
by demanding that it obtain licences either from the Posts &
Telecommunications Regulating Authority (POTRAZ), TelOne or the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ). Even after these organisations
had declared that a licence was not required for the "receive-only"
dish, Zimra insisted that an application for a licence should again
be sent to POTRAZ and inexplicably demanded that, "A
copy of your application should be sent to the President’s Office."
The paper observed
dryly that "the involvement of the President’s Office,
which houses the CIO, raises questions about who is pulling the
Zimra levers". These developments clearly illustrate
government’s intolerance of an independent media and provide convincing
evidence of its continuing determination to suffocate what few outlets
remain.
It would be
interesting to know if the Media and Information Commission has
been informed of the "substantial changes" to the Mirror
group’s share structure. The MIC closed down The Tribune
15 months ago for, among other factors, its failure to notify the
commission of such changes.
Visit
the MMPZ fact
sheet
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