|
Back to Index
100
protest in Jo'burg over Harare's tough media laws
ZimOnline
March 01, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11698
JOHANNESBURG
- More than 100 activists yesterday demonstrated at the Zimbabwe
Consulate in Johannesburg against Harare's tough media laws and
the continued harassment of the trustees of the privately-owned
Voice of the People (VOP) broadcasting firm.
The protests
were organised by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum a network of several
South African civic society groups pushing for democracy in their
northern neighbour.
"We want
the Zimbabwean government to give people freedom of expression ….
we cannot ignore when our neighbours are being victimised,"
said Solidarity co-ordinator Pamela Masiko, adding that her group
would also lobby the South African government to pressure their
counterparts in Harare to embrace Press freedom.
It was not possible
to get any comment from officials at the consul.
The trustees
of VOP, which is one of the few independent firms broadcasting into
Zimbabwe, are facing charges of breaching Zimbabwe's tough Broadcasting
Services Act and were set to appear in court yesterday but had their
matter postponed to today.
The trustees
are Arnold Tsunga, Mille Phiri, Isabella Matambanadzo, David Masunda
and Nhlanhla Ngwenya. They face up to two years in jail if found
guilty of broadcasting from Zimbabwe without a licence from the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.
Top Harare human
rights lawyer Beatrice Mutetwa, who is representing them, has however
said she will ask the court to remove them from remand because the
state has failed to disclose the specific offence her clients are
alleged to have committed.
Although VOP
employs journalists in Zimbabwe it does not broadcast from the country
but from the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar using a Radio Netherlands-owned
transmitter. - ZimOnline
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.
TOP
|
