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2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Government
steps up hounding of independent press ahead of presidential elections
Reporters sans Frontières
(Paris)
February 25, 2008
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25913
Reporters without Borders
today voiced serious concern over a growing government crackdown
on independent media with one month to go before presidential elections
in Zimbabwe on 29 March.
Journalists have been
arrested, summoned and ordered to reveal sources, charged with "publication
of false news" and newspapers threatened with closure if they
fail to comply, in an upsurge of harassment that seriously threatens
press freedom ahead of polling," the worldwide press freedom
organisation said.
"This is not the
first time the police and the sinister Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) have cracked down on the media and opposition," it said.
"They formed the vanguard of the crackdown against journalists
in the 2000 elections. These arrests, attempted intimidation and
other forms of persecution are aimed at instilling fear among the
public in the run-up to the 29 March poll," it added.
State security agents
burst into the offices of the privately-owned weekly The Masvingo
Mirror, on 9 February, demanding that they reveal their sources
for two articles headlined, "Major Mbudzi ties the bell around
the Cat's neck" and "Makoni's national surgical operation,
Mbudzi speaks out". The articles which were carried in the
8 to 14 February edition, referred to the candidature of former
finance minister Simba Makoni, now an opponent of President Robert
Mugabe.
"Two men wearing
dark suits and sunglasses demanded to know our sources and threatened
us with closure if we continued to publish stories that are anti-government
and aimed at de-campaigning the ruling party", said the paper's
editor, Regis Chingawo. He added that it was "obvious"
that remarks by Mbudzi, spokesman for the presidential party in
Masvingo, describing President Mugabe as a "bus driver who
is nodding off at the wheel and refuses to let anyone else drive"
had "infuriated" state security.
A week later, on 17 February,
heavily-armed members of the anti-riot police arrested independent
journalist Fazila Mohammed, who was covering a clash between supporters
of two bishops with different political affiliations at Harare's
Saint Mary's Cathedral. She had her tape-recorder seized before
being released. She was summoned to appear at the central police
station in Harare on 18 February and was finally released without
any charge.
Three journalists working
for the weekly The Network Guardian, Blessed Mhlanga, James Muonwa
and Wycliff Nyarota, appeared in court in Kwekwe, central Zimbabwe
on 18 February charged with "publishing false news" in
an article that appeared on 26 March 2006. The judge set the date
for their trial as 15 April 2008.
Three days later on 21
February, the information and Publicity minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
threatened to severely punish the weekly The Financial Gazette in
Harare if an article referring to dissent within the presidential
party was not immediately removed.
"I will not hesitate
to institute the necessary corrective measures upon the paper in
accordance to our laws," the minister said. The article said
that some party members, who are showing growing defiance, refused
to sign the papers needed for Robert Mugabe to be nominated as presidential
candidate.
Reporters Without Borders
defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the
world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives
in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more
than 120 correspondents worldwide.
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