Zimbabwe Social Democrats condemns the Police arrest and harassment of editors for doing their duty of informing the public.
Press Release Friday 20 th June 2014.
The Police have seized the Editor of the Sunday Mail, Edmund Kudzayi. They are hunting for the Editor of The Zimbabwe Independent, Dumisani Muleya. And the Editor of the Chronicle newspaper had his house reportedly burgled.
These things are happening days after Mugabe publicly castigated the local media for publishing the stories of rampant corruption by Zanu PF officials and proxies in public institutions such as ZESA and Public Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS). In the later, Mugabe‟s own spokesman, George Charamba, was named as one of the salary scandal beneficiary.
Zanu PF has always denied corruption was a problem; getting evidence of corruption has always been a problem because of the regime‟s “black- box” policy to keep the public in the dark of what government is doing. Even if one was to get information they did not dare publish for fear of being “punished” for undermining the regime‟s black-box policy.
At the funeral of ex-Information Minister, Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe praised the dead man for running a tight ship so that very few corruption stories involving party officials ever came out. As far as Mugabe was con- cerned Shamuyarira „did not work against interests of the party‟. And the current Minister of Information, Professor Jonathan Moyo, during whose watch PSMAS sandals had been widely reported was the “devil incarnate”.
“I am saying this because all the men that we had, who were leading the newspapers, were fired and replaced by those from the MDC,” Mugabe said.
It is clear that the Police arrest and harassment of the three editors is re- lated to Mugabe‟s remarks and the State enforcing its black-box policy.
Mugabe should have been castigating the Police for failing to nip corrup- tion in the bud all these years. And the Police should have arrested all those involved in these corruption stories.
It is deeply frustrating that 34 years after independence the right to a free media and freedom of expression are still routinely denied in Zimba- bwe.
We note with anger that if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms which included media reforms as they should have done, they had five years to do so; then this nation would be engaged in other pressing na- tional matters instead fighting for the same basic rights and freedoms we were fighting for before independence!
Conclusion
We condemn the arrest and harassment of journalists who are doing their public duty of informing the public. The regime should instead deal with corruption with the seriousness and urgency the issue deserves.
By arresting and harassing the three editor Mugabe has shown that he has no intention of ending the serious problem of corruption, one of the big cancers killing the national economy and he no intention of granting the nation even their most basic right like a free media. There those who have harboured thought reforming Mugabe and Zanu PF and work with them; it is clear the dictatorship is set in its evil ways and will not change.
We call upon Mugabe and Zanu PF to resign because the regime has proven it is not fit to govern the nation. Nothing of any sense can ever be achieved as long as the regime remains in power.
The Zimbabwe Social Democrats are committed to have all the democratic reforms implemented as a matter of great urgency. We will have a free media and allow the free flow of information. A Zimbabwe Social Democrats government will abolish the Ministry of Information and the black-box ethos it stands for!
Signed. Wilbert Mukori
Secretary General
Zimbabwe Social Democrats
zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
« Headline news 20 June, 2014
Zimbabwe police hunt for ‘hostile’ editors »