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Government draws up blacklist of people whose passports are to be confiscated
Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
December 12, 2005

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15882

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the government's action in drawing up a blacklist of some 60 leading Zimbabweans, some currently living abroad, whose passports are to be confiscated and cancelled to prevent them from travelling abroad any more. They reportedly include independent newspaper owner Trevor Ncube, at least five other independent media personalities, an expatriate lawyer and journalist, and the owner and former executives of the banned Daily News newspaper.

"This new scheme is Kafkaesque," Reporters Without Borders said. "How repressive can Robert Mugabe's government get before it is called to account? Zimbabwe is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and is under South Africa's influence, yet it is not threatened with any coercive measure over its repeated press violations. Action to help Zimbabweans recover their civil and political liberties is long overdue."

In a letter from registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede to immigration chief Elasto Mugwadi on 28 November, the government ordered the withdrawal and cancellation of the passports of all persons on "the following list." A local source said there were 64 names on the list, including businessman Strive Masiyiwa, owner of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), which publishes the Daily News, former Daily News editors Geoffrey Nyarota and Nqobile Nyathi, and Daily News reporters Lloyd Mudiwa and Basildon Peta.

Beatrice Mtetwa, a leading lawyer who won the Committee to Protect Journalists' 2005 international press freedom prize, and former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation journalist Caroline Gombakomba, who now works for the Voice of America in the United States, are also on the list, which was sent with an accompanying memo to all border posts.

The measure follows an amendment four months ago to article 22 of the constitution allowing the government to withdraw any citizen's passport when there is reason to suspect they could harm national interests, defence interests or the state economy when abroad.

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