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We demand the return of The Daily News
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
November 15, 2007

The Minister of Information and Publicity, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has constituted a new board to handle the case of The Daily News. The Herald 15 November 2007 reports that the minister called upon the new board to be impartial and objective in order to send a message to the world that Zimbabwe runs an open space media.

This comes after the courts ordered the discredited Dr. Tafataona Mahoso, a Zanu PF loyalist to rescue himself from handling the paper's application due to his unmitigated bias. Dr Tafataona Mahoso writes lengthy and vilifying articles in The Sunday Mail, castigating the opposition, journalists from the independent media and privately owned media houses. It is therefore not befitting for him to preside over the case of an organization where he is on record discrediting as working in cahoots with the West to effect what he prefers to call regime change agenda.

However, the Coalition notes with grave concern how the Minister of Information came up with the board members of the people dealing with the case. It automatically leads to the contestation of the impartiality and objectivity of the board. The commission will not be independent from the thinking of those who appointed them.

Chinondidyachii Mararike, who was appointed the chairperson of the commission dealing with the case of the ANZ just like Dr Mahoso, write tedious articles in the public media bundling the media with the opposition, questioning their patriotism with out giving them space to respond to such allegations. As in the custom of the ruling party, it rewards loyalty rather than competency and objectivity. Mararike can be worse than Mahoso in this case.

Other board members such as the Kenyan fugitive Ngugi wa Miri is also a strong apologetic parrot of the establishment. He is the very same person who appeared on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) in full support of the state sponsored Operation Murambatsvina, castigating the independent media of performing imbedded journalism when they questioned the rationale of the crude operation which left more than 1.7 million people loosing their livelihoods and shelter.

The principles of transparency and accountability have not taken precedence. The case of The Daily News has once again been predetermined. As in the judgment of the courts that the MIC was improperly constituted during the reign of Mahoso, the same situation has befallen the board handling the case. The commissioners' opinions and views are public knowledge. It will call for a fertile imagination to conceive that the decision of the case of the paper will be objective and impartial.

The Daily News' life has been reminiscent of a burning candle in the wind. In its short but effective life it was bombed twice. On 28 January 2001 it was bombed, causing extensive damage to the Z$100 million printing press and the building. The then Minister of Information and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo had appeared on the state television threatening that the government would deal with the newspaper as it had become a threat to national security. Few hours after the statement, The Daily News was bombed.

On 22 April 2000 a powerful bomb exploded at about 9.15pm at the art gallery on the ground floor of the newspaper's offices in the city centre. To this end, the police maintain that they are still investigating the matter.

As the Coalition, we call upon the ministry to bring the issue of the reconstitution of the board to be an inclusive and representative process including credible leaders in the independent media, private sector and members of the civil society. The Daily News as a platform of public debate and shaping the body of knowledge of the society should re-open. Any other decision is meant to further the cause of the deep seated dictatorship in the country.

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