Back to Index

MIC brands MISA agent of regime change
MISA-Zimbabwe
September 29, 2006

The state-controlled Media and Information Commission on 28 September 2006 attacked MISA-Zimbabwe for portraying itself to the donor community as "regime change activists" who will repeal the country’s restrictive media laws.

In a statement, published in The Herald on 29 September, MIC chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso attacked MISA-Zimbabwe together with the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) and the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) accusing the three organisations of convening clandestine meetings under the guise of media law reform. The three organisations constitute the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ).

Mahoso’s statement was issued on the eve of a two-day parliamentary lobbying conference organised by MAZ to push for the repeal of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), among other repressive media laws.

He claimed that the purpose of the meeting which opened in Harare on 29 September 2006 is to create "a stilted platform from which the activists may engage in an orgy of anti-Zimbabwe diatribe intended to coincide with other recently staged events".

By referring to what he termed "recently staged events", Mahoso was apparently alluding to the 13 September 2006 nationwide marches organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) which resulted in the brutal police assault of the ZCTU leaders leading to the hospitalisation of secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe.

Contrary to Mahoso’s assertions that the Acting Minister of Information Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana was not aware of the meeting, MISA-Zimbabwe has it on record that invitations were extended to the minister and the MIC chairman himself well in advance of the meeting.

His reference to "clandestine" meetings is also baffling because Mahoso himself acknowledges that he was invited to the meeting.

MISA-Zimbabwe, therefore dismisses Mahoso’s desperate rantings as not warranting any serious attention. Mahoso, as has become the norm, will go to any lengths to protect his supper which comes by way of the contentious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which created the statutory MIC which he chairs.

ZUJ president Mathew Takaona said the purpose of the workshop was to reflect on media laws adding that the union was not bothered by Mahoso’s allegations.

Visit the MISA-Zimbabwe fact sheet

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