Zimbabwe editor tells of journalists under siege

JOURNALISTS in Zimbabwe have been under siege for the last five years due to a vicious campaign unleashed on them by the government of president Robert Mugabe. This was the tale related by Daily News of Zimbabwe editor, Njobile Nyathi, when she spoke at a Commonwealth Journalists Dinner at UWI’s St Augustine campus on Monday. Nyathi told her audience that since the birth of the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, all independent publications have been targetted by the Mugabe regime, which has pulled out all the stops to silence the free press in Zimbabwe. She said the passage of the Broadcasting Services, Public Order and Security and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Acts by the Zimbabwean Parliament has granted increased power to government and security forces while simultaneously restricting “what the media can report.”

She said under these laws, the independent press cannot publish statements which are considered offensive to president Mugabe, endanger public order, affect the nation’s economic interests or undermine public confidence in a law enforcement agency such as the police or the army. Nyathi said even if journalists have irrefutable proof  “nothing protects them from being arrested.”  Nyathi said she was detained by the authorities, and journalists (local and foreign) who work without accreditation could be imprisoned for up to two years. Nyathi spoke of instances where ten journalists were crammed into a cell designed for four persons, having to sleep on the floor and endure lice and human waste. “These people are not allowed to wash until the day they are released or the day they appear in court,” she declared.

Nyathi added that this does not apply to the government-controlled press and the Mugabe regime is very paranoid about foreign journalists, believing them to be in cahoots with the Opposition. She said Zimbabwe has lost many fine journalists over the last five years due to the hostile environment there and “the quality of journalism in Zimbabwe is already beginning to suffer.” Nyathi stated that the Daily News is viewed by the government as “the MDC’s mouthpiece” and has particularly been singled out for special treatment.  The paper’s printing press was bombed in January 2001 and there were subsequent attacks against its offices in Harare and Bulawayo.

The Daily News was shut down in February and currently publishes its newspaper on the Internet. Nyathi said while the newspaper is currently operated by a staff of 50 dedicated persons, she was confident the day would come when the Daily News would once again be circulated throughout Zimbabwe. She also said the major source of news about Zimbabwe is currently supplied from journalists based in neighbouring South Africa, but this news does not reflect the true situation on the ground and this has prejudiced the views of Zimbabweans both at home and abroad.