The Spectator
DON'T FORGET ZIMBABWE
Readers may remember the story of
Tom Bayley, an 88-year-old Zimbabwean
farmer whom this magazine interviewed
in mid-April. He was then sitting in
the living-room of his homestead at
Masowe, near Harare, where he had been
under siege by Robert Mugabe's thugs
for more than a month. With tears
running down his cheeks, the old man
explained that he had come to Rhodesia
in 1930, and bought his first small
plot of land for £5. He described how he
had built up the farm, to the point
where he had generally been able to
expect a thousand tons of maize every
year. This year, though, there will be
no harvest at the Bayleys'
farm.
After 35 days in which neither he nor his wife was able to leave
their
house, Tom Bayley has died, bullied to death by a dozen or so
malodorous
'war veterans'. They illegally invaded his property, and illegally
prevented
the visits of their children. They ate the seedcorn, butchered the
cattle,
and kept up a nightly barrage of threats and taunts. One day in May
the old
white farmer fell, broke his hip, and died from complications in
hospital.
When he spoke to this magazine, he described the last years of his
life as a
'torture'. He felt cast adrift, abandoned by Britain. As for the
Zimbabwean
police, it was clear that they actively connived with the
brigands. They
wanted the Bayleys off the land, thought to have been
earmarked for an
important member of the Mugabe regime, and they did no more
to help Mr
Bayley than they helped Charles Anderson, who became, on Sunday,
the twelfth
white farmer to be killed by the mobs.
After two years of
pogroms, Mr Mugabe has now succeeded in expelling 3,000
white farmers from
the land they cultivated. All the rest are in theory due
to leave by 10
August, or else face a two-year sentence in prison. It would
be naive, of
course, to think that it is only whites who have suffered. A
total of 800,000
black workers have also lost their livelihoods; and since
the land has been
given over to a total of 560,000 invaders, there has been
a substantial net
loss of employment for black workers, too. The damage to
the Zimbabwean
economy has been incalculable. This was once among the most
robust economies
in Africa. It is now on the brink of starvation, with six
million in need of
food aid. In the space of the last two weeks, the
Zimbabwean dollar has
depreciated from 250 to the US dollar, to 500.
It is not just the chaos
and bloodshed that should make us angry. It is the
seeming indifference of
the British government, and of the media. Britain
has just celebrated 50
years of the Queen's rule; indeed, the Jubilee has
gone stunningly well, a
devastating rebuke to the republicans. What we seem
to have forgotten, in
this jovial orgy of self-congratulation, is that there
are British people,
with British passports, who are being killed and driven
from their farms in
what was a British colony. Why is it that we were
prepared to spend three
months bombing Serbia and Kosovo on behalf of the
Kosovo Liberation Army,
which now turns out to have links with the al-Qa'eda
network, when we do
absolutely nothing to help people like Tom Bayley? There
are supposed to be
some EU sanctions in place against Mugabe. They are a
joke. With the explicit
knowledge and connivance of the British government,
Mugabe's chief of police,
Mr Augustine Chihuri, was allowed recently to
attend a meeting of Interpol in
Lyons. What price the travel ban on senior
members of the Mugabe regime?
Where was the outrage from Jack Straw? Chihuri
is a man whose corrupt and
sniggering police have overseen the robbery and
murder of white farmers, and
he is waved through by the French without a
blink, and shown to his table in
the restaurants of Lyons.
It is arrant nonsense to say that Britain can
do nothing. It remains true
now, as it was in the 1970s, that the Zimbabwean
economy is dependent on
South Africa. If he so chose, Thabo Mbeki could pull
the plug on Mugabe
overnight, just as John Vorster eventually pulled the plug
on Ian Smith.
Britain is the single biggest investor in South Africa, and
remains hugely
influential. And yet we are doing nothing to put pressure on
Mbeki to end
the madness north of the Limpopo.
South Africa must be
made to see that it was not enough to suspend Zimbabwe
from the Commonwealth;
and that the agricultural catastrophe in Zimbabwe is
affecting the whole of
southern Africa. This month Mbeki will be at the G8
summit in Canada, holding
out the begging bowl for the New Project for
African Development. He should
not get a penny until he shows a firmer
resolve in dealing with the
election-stealing thuggery of Mugabe.
The reason so much of black Africa
is a disaster is nothing to do with
colonialism, or droughts. The trouble is
the despotic behaviour of Africa's
rulers. It suits Mbeki, and it suits
Blair, quietly to forget about the
horrors of Zimbabwe. They must not be
forgotten.
Zim Standard
Mugabe running scared, say critics
By our
own Staff
THE possibility of mass action against the Mugabe regime
has set alarm
bells ringing in the corridors of the ruling party, say the
government's
critics.
Panic stricken Mugabe loyalists have
stepped up efforts to quash
rising dissent among the population in an effort
to avert a popular
uprising.
Apart from rubber stamping
cruel new laws like the Public Order and
Security Act, (POSA), and the Access
to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, (AIPPA), through parliament,
the state has also acted
ruthlessly against attempts to question the
78-year-old president's right to
govern the country.
Zimbabwe's
increasingly partisan police have charged journalists on at
least 12
occasions in the last three months, using the controversial media
act to
silence the press. Several lawyers, opposition leaders and members of
civic
society have also been charged under POSA as government cracks down
on
criticism.
John Makumbe, a leading political scientist, told
The Standard he
would not be surprised if Mugabe had made plans to flee the
country.
"He's very nervous. Mugabe expected mass action straight
after the
election and it didn't happen. That's left him confused, but all
this talk
of mass action frightens him and I honestly think he's made
contingency
plans to leave the country. There's a heightened state of
insecurity and he
doesn't know whom to trust," said the outspoken
Makumbe.
Adding weight to Makumbe's claim is the fact that Mugabe
has not
appointed a new cabinet since the controversial March
poll.
Meanwhile former Zanu PF chief whip Moses Mvenge told The
Standard
that Mugabe is running scared.
"He's obsessed with
power," said Mvenge. "The man is motivated by it,
but the end could be near.
He's insecure and can't take criticism because he
believes everyone is his
enemy, even his shadow."
In recent months Mugabe has stepped up
what was already a massive
security network for his personal protection. He
recently acquired a state
of the art armour plated Mercedes limousine, while
the country's riot cops
have been armed with high powered water canons to
suppress popular protests
against his increasingly intolerant
regime.
"History is repeating itself," said Mvenge, a former
liberation war
commander. "The situation we lived in during colonial times
are the same as
those we're enduring now. Enacting laws to curtail political
activity in any
country is like setting a time bomb and soon you won't even
need to mobilise
the people."
Meanwhile John Makumbe said, "The
country is a powder keg waiting to
explode. Zimbabweans aren't docile and
people have nothing to lose but their
chains. As things stand now, Mugabe
knows that police and the military won't
be able to contain the people.
Zimbabweans can literally march into State
House and there's nothing he can
do about it."
Commenting on Mugabe's fears, MDC secretary general
Welshman Ncube
said,
"Mass action will work because Mugabe
hasn't a clue how to solve the
country's problems. It'll work because the
people know that he's a hypocrite
who promised land to the people and is now
taking it away from them and
giving it to his cronies."
Zim Standard
Staff exodus hits Zimpapers
Staff
Writer
A MASSIVE staff exodus is set to hit the State-controlled
Zimpapers
following the impending launch of another weekly newspaper, The
Standard has
leant.
Insiders at Herald House told The Standard
last week that the launch
of the new paper would leave newsrooms at Herald
House virtually empty.
Insiders said journalists at the
government mouthpieces were jostling
to join the new venture, which they saw
as an avenue to escape information
minister, Jonathan Moyo's
stranglehold.
Moyo has of late been acting as if he was the
editor-chief of all the
government-controlled newspapers, even giving
assignments to reporters, a
function usually performed by a News
Editor.
"It has become a nightmare working under Moyo and people
are seeing
the launch of this new paper as an escape route. A number of us
have been
approached and will be leaving. The conditions here are horrible,"
said one
insider.
The anticipated Saturday newspaper will be
owned by a consortium of
local businessmen led by Mutumwa Mawere. Reports
indicate that the paper
will be edited by former Sunday Mail editor, Funny
Mushava.
Apart from the impending Saturday paper, Mawere is
understood to be
planning a business paper for Thursdays.
Most
affected by the staff exodus would be the sports departments of
The Herald
and The Sunday Mail, where it is understood the bulk of
journalists working
in these departments had been offered
jobs.
Zim Standard
Tobacco merchants fail to secure
credit
By Kumbirai Mafunda
LOCAL tobacco merchants
could fail to get the best crop on the auction
floors as commercial banks are
finding it difficult to access offshore lines
of credit, The Standard has
learnt.
Under a new government policy gazetted in May, established
merchants
are required to purchase tobacco using foreign currency raised
outside
Zimbabwe, with indigenous merchants accessing the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's
Memorandum of Deposit (M.O.D) facility.
Although
the RBZ faced a hostile reaction mainly from the indigenous
tobacco buyers
who felt the measures would not help their plight, the RBZ
argued that the
facility was meant to enable indigenous merchants to get
lines of credit from
local commercial banks or international banks, with the
RBZ acting as the
guarantor.
However commercial banks are reportedly refusing to help
merchants,
citing the risk of accepting the M.O.D.
"The
government's facility has failed to receive the support of the
banks and
speculation is high that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe might issue
a directive
to the banks. It is all quite complex. The merchant concerned
must first of
all satisfy the bank that he has got an order for the tobacco
that he wants
to buy. The bank is unlikely to lend without security to
recover the money,"
said a source with a commercial bank.
The delay in accessing
offshore lines of credit and processing of
local merchants applications for
M.O.D's raises fears that indigenous
buyers, whose number had markedly
increased this year, may be eliminated as
players in the tobacco
industry.
A commercial banker who refused to be named said: "The
country's
indigenous drive is being thwarted by the RBZ policy which is
running
parallel to the indigenous merchants' initiatives.''
An
interim financing arrangement which was put in place by the RBZ for
merchants
who may fail to establish offshore lines of credit, so that they
could borrow
a maximum of US$1 million from their banks, expired at the end
of
May.
However the reluctance by corresponding banks to process
local
merchants' applications has forced the central bank to extend the
deadline
for this arrangement.
"In order to allow for the
completion of this process, it has been
decided to extend the deadline for
the interim financing arrangements to 14
June," said Ignatius Mabasa, the
head of the public affairs department in
the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
John Chiweshe the president of the Zimbabwe Association
of Tobacco
Merchants (ZATM), said the failure by commercial banks to secure
offshore
lines of credit was prohibiting them from buying tobacco on the
floors. He
added that the interim financing arrangement was
inadequate.
"It depends very much on the success of our local banks
but there is
no coreponding foreign bank that is interested in doing business
with our
banks. The loans we are currently getting tend to be small because
they are
measured on our ability to repay in case the M.O.D fails to be
accessed,''
said Chiweshe.
Chiweshe rapped the M.O.D facility,
saying if the country had ready
foreign markets there was no need for the
facility.
Said Chiweshe: "It is not even required if there are
markets. It
doesn't help Zimbabwe because it locks up money to other sectors.
The
missing link is the difficulty in accessing foreign markets. Using M.O.D
to
buy tobacco is not selling it.
He decried the absence of a
department in the Ministry of Industry and
International Trade that develops
counter- trading to create foreign
markets.
Kingdom Bank chief
economist, Witness Chinyama, said the government's
retrogressive foreign
policy was curtailing trade and financial relations
resulting in local banks
failing to get offshore lines of credit from
corresponding
banks.
"The continued worsening of the country's credit rating has
to do with
government's foreign policy," said Chinyama.
Zimbabwe
severed balance of payments support with the IMF and the
World Bank in
1999.The country's declining credit rating and investment risk
has forced
local banks and other financial institutions to open branches in
other
countries to circumvent the foreign currency shortages.
Zim Standard
Zimbabwe to lose Victoria Falls?
By Grey
Moyo
BULAWAYO-EROSION taking place at Victoria Falls' Devil's
Cataract may
result in Zimbabwe losing its side of the falls to Zambia in the
future, a
report by the Zambia National Monuments Commission (ZNMC)
says.
The report, based on the commission's research findings, says
the loss
of the falls to Zambia will take place gradually as erosion has
already
started eating away the Devil's Cataract. The cataract is the lowest
point
on the 103- metre high falls which form a water curtain between Zambia
and
Zimbabwe.
The report adds that a gorge running between
what is now the Devil's
Cataract and Rainbow lodge on the Zambian sides is
being formed by the
continuing process of erosion.
"Fifty
thousand years of continuous erosion by the Zambezi river have
cut along
joints or vertical cracks on underlying basalt rocks. The joints
were
shrinkage cracks when the lava forming the basalt layer cooled... This
way
zones of very close jointing were formed, some of them being flooded
with
material almost as soft as clay. It is along these very soft tissue
that
successive gorges and waterfalls have gradually developed through
water
scooping out the soft materials and weakening the rock outcrop," reads
part
of the report.
As if doom to the Zimbabwean side is not
enough, the commission fears
that there is a possibility that the entire
Victoria Falls will eventually
disappear from the face of the
earth.
"...eventually there will be no falls at all. What will
remain is a
gradually deepening gorge along the entire area," the ZNMC
says.
The Victoria Falls is one of Zimbabwe's recognised World
Heritage
sites alongside such monuments as Great Zimbabwe and the Matopos
nature
reserve. The loss of the falls would seriously affect the country's
tourism
industry.
Zambia seems to be preparing for the coming of
the falls to its side.
The country has upgraded its side of the Victoria
falls and added new
facilities when tourists deserted Zimbabwe at the height
of the violent 2000
parliamentary election.
The upgrading of
facilities on the Zambian side has already provided
stiff competition as
Zambians, who took advantage of the political turmoil
in Zimbabwe, have
embarked on an aggressive marketing of their side in
addition to its new
facilities.
The two countries have an agreement to maintain their
sides of the
Victoria falls in their natural state by protecting them from
large scale
commercial exploitation.
The only monument which
Zimbabwe will remain with is the statue of
David Livingstone, the Scottish
explorer whose claim to have discovered the
falls was disputed by the Tonga
people. They named it "Mosi -a Tunya",
meaning "the smoke that
thunders".
The report of the ZNMC follows on the heels of another
2000 report
entitled "The State of Ecology in the Zambezi Valley" which
raised serious
concern that the entire ecological set up along the course of
the Zambezi
has deteriorate to alarming levels.
Zim Standard
Police steal panners' gold
By our own
Staff
GWANDA-Four West Nicholson policemen allegedly mounted
illegal raids
at the Valley Mine gold mining camps and converted to their
personal use, 40
bags of gold ore left by fleeing panners.
The
four, Mandla Gumbo, 37, Steven Ndou, 31, Jorum Sithole, 32 and
Qhabu
Mlotshwa, 28, recently appeared at the Gwanda magistrates court and
were
formally charged for contravening Section 4 of the Prevention of
Corruption
Act.
According to a state outline obtained by The Standard, on
24 April,
the four who are based at West Nicholson, reported a fake road
accident to
their officer-in-charge, identified as Inspector Shoko and were
given
permission to use a police defender to attend the scene of the
accident.
The accused then picked up a gold-panning friend named
Jagrace Ncube
and headed for Valley Mine where a bustling gold mining camp
exists.
Upon arrival, they found 16 panners who ran away leaving 20
bags of
gold ore which were then impounded by the police officers for their
personal
use.
The state alleges that the officers took the ore
away in the police
truck, hid it in a secluded spot and returned for their
second raid of the
night.
This time, they netted 20 bags of ore
before driving back to the camp
to surrender the vehicle. Using private
vehicles, the policemen took the ore
to Bills Luck Mine in Filabusi where it
was processed. The state has
produced milling records as
evidence.
The four who appeared on initial remand were not asked to
plead and
were remanded out of custody.
Zim Standard
Gays speak out on Moyo
By Walter
Marwizi
THE Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) have broken their
silence
over the alleged Moyo and Mpofu homosexual relationship.
This week, Keith Goddard, the director of programmes told The Standard
that
they had heard the rumour before but said Moyo was not on their
membership
list.
"No and he never has been," said Goddard in a written
response to
questions from The Standard.
Asked whether he had
heard about the rumour by opposition MDC MP Job
Sikhala in Court last week,
he said: "Yes, but these rumours have not been
substantiated by any evidence
and GALZ does not trade in rumours."
Goddard however confirmed,
over two months ago, that the disgraced
former ZBC CEO Mpofu was a member of
GALZ.
On whether the issue of the alleged relationship between the
two, who
at one time were both in South Africa should be probed, Goddard said
GALZ
did not support witch hunts of any sort.
"Nevertheless, as
in the case of Alum Mpofu where GALZ did have
evidence, the association felt
no qualms about confirming the truth:
homosexuals who condone or facilitate
the persecution of gays and lesbian
people are hypocritical and they deserve
no sympathy," he said.
Meanwhile, many ordinary Harare residents
favour a probe into the
allegations.
A street survey by The
Standard revealed that the majority of
respondents in Harare feel that the
allegations needed to be probed rather
than brushed aside.
Many
people who responded to the survey noted that since Moyo was a
public figure
working in a government that detested homosexuals, it was
imperative that
there be debate on his sexual orientation.
A Harare woman who
identified herself only as Grace, said for the sake
of transparency and to
clear Moyo's name government should launch a probe
into the
allegations.
"Jonathan Moyo brags about our constitutional
democracy and I think
this is the time for him to demonstrate his commitment
to that democracy by
allowing a probe into the matter. Job Sikhala should be
hauled before an
independent body and made to explain the origins of the
rumoured homosexual
relationship between the minister and Mpofu. If there is
nothing to hide,
Moyo should welcome this as it will clear his name," she
said.
However, other residents felt that Job Sikhala was not a
credible
source of information and that whatever he said in court or outside
should
not be taken seriously.
"Some of us who were at
University with Sikhala know that 'Wiwa' is
good at smearing dirt over anyone
who crosses his path. I am sure he has
done what he is good at," said a 26-
year old man who preferred anonymity.
President Mugabe has openly
expressed his contempt of homosexuals whom
he describes as worse than dogs
and pigs.
Zim Standard
Penalty for Bulawayo toxic discharge
By
Loughty Dube
THE cash-strapped Bulawayo city council is set to rein
in companies
guilty of discharging toxic waste into the city's water system
with its
introduction of a new Trade and Effluent Tariff Scheme, expected to
rake in
the $300 million needed for the upkeep of the city's aging water
treatment
plants.
The scheme, introduced in April under the
council's by-laws will see
companies pay between $ 500 000 and $1 million for
the discharge of
untreated industrial waste into the water
system.
The company has so far identified 41 companies it deems
responsible
for the pollution bedevilling the city's water
system.
"The new tariffs are aimed at industries which are
generating toxic
effluent into the system and these will be charged fines
depending on the
quantity and quality of effluent they discharge because, as
it is, some
companies release more toxic effluent than others," said Peter
Sibanda the
new director of the city's Engineering Services
Department.
He added that under the new scheme, all industries
found to be
generating toxic effluent, would be made to contribute towards
the
conveyance and treatment of the effluent in the city.
This
has seen the council spending $ 800 million annually in the
treatment of
effluent and the maintenance of sewers.
The city of Bulawayo is
also awaiting local government approval of a
$2 billion loan from the open
market for the financing of its capital
projects.
It hopes to
use $300 million of this in upgrading the Aisbley waste
treatment plant, the
main sewer plant in the city
Zim Standard
Anti-immigration sentiments
London Line
By Ken Tendayi Mano
TWO British papers are waging a serious
campaign against asylum
seekers who enter Britain through France's Channel
Tunnel and Belgium's
Zeebrugge and Ostend.
The asylum seekers,
mostly from war ravaged Afghanistan, China, parts
of the former Russian
Union, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, reside at the
Sangatte Red Cross Camp
near Calais before illegally boarding freight trains
and trucks bound for
Britain.
Others enter through the Belgium port of Zeebrugge, a
container and
ferry port close to a busy truck stop where drivers take a rest
on their way
to Britain.
Zeebrugge is connected to the British
ports of Dagenham, Dover,
Felixstowe, Hull, Purfleet and Teeside and will
soon be connected to
Edinburgh.
It is reported that each day,
about 300 asylum seekers leave for
Britain from Sangatte alone and about 100
from Zeebrugge and of these, three
quarters make it while the rest are
arrested.
Although no Zimbabweans enter Britain via the Channel
Tunnel or
Zeebrugge, our country is one of the top countries on the list of
those with
the highest number of people applying for asylum. The other
countries are
Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
The two
newspapers are calling for the closure of Sangatte and the
temporary shut
down of the Channel Tunnel until the French, who have been
under fire for
letting these illegal immigrants into Britain, have sorted
out their
mess.
The papers have also raised fears that terrorists could be
among the
hundreds of asylum seekers entering the country illegally. With
reports of
Bin Laden's men targeting Britain for attack, the papers have
called on all
concerned citizens to write to Blair urging him to find a
workable solution
to the Sangatte crisis.
Sangatte, now a Red
Cross holding centre, was a warehouse during the
construction of the Channel
Tunnel and it is from here that most asylum
seekers gain entry, sometimes
through threatening violence and disrupting
freight operations.
According to the English, Welsh and Irish railway authorities,
business has
been badly affected with losses of more than o500 000
being
incurred.
In December last year, more than 500 asylum
seekers unsuccessfully
stormed the tunnel disrupting train services for about
10 hours. In March
this year, hundreds of asylum seekers overwhelmed the
guards on duty and
halted freight services for hours. May 3 saw more than
eighty asylum seekers
coming through the channel on one freight
train.
Britain is considered one of the most lenient countries in
the world
for asylum seekers. If one does get asylum status, one receives a
weekly
payout of about o40 plus food vouchers, paid accommodation and
free
education up to A Level. So Britain is the asylum seeker's
favourite
destination because in addition to all these benefits one can
obtain a
well-paid job and live really well.
Already in January
and April, 24 000 people applied for asylum status
but the number for
rejected asylum seekers over the years has risen to 50
000. All those denied
asylum are, by British law, allowed to remain in the
country on full
government benefit, pending the outcome of their appeals.
And to
date, there is a backlog of about 71 000 appeals against
deportations which,
according to the National Association of Citizens
Bureau, will probably take
21 years to clear at the current pace at which
appeals are being
handled.
But most asylum seekers are known to disappear before
their appeals
have been heard or when they are told that they have lost the
appeal. They
either change their names or go underground where they will not
be
discovered unless and until they fall into mischief and are
caught.
Tony Blair's government, overwhelmed by the situation, has
made plans
to have dubious asylum seekers deported within days of their
arrival so that
they may apply for asylum from abroad.
It has
been suggested that the air force and army be deployed at
Belgian and French
ports to deal with asylum seekers there. It's not clear
whether the
government has deployed them yet. Critics have slammed this
suggestion as
unworkable, unethical, ill conceived and morally wrong.
Simon
Hughes, the home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats
says asylum
seekers must be allowed to appeal from within Britain.
Anti-immigrant groups, however, blame immigrants for the poor social
services
being offered by the British government today, for overcrowding
in
residential areas and for higher taxation. They also complain about
the
dangers of pollution of the British culture. One survey carried out
recently
even showed that a British meal today would be incomplete without
curry!
The rise of far right parties has also been used to justify
the
anti-immigrant sentiments everywhere.
The papers point to
the rise of the slain Dutch leader, Pim Fortuyn
whose Pim Fortuyn List party
won 26% of the vote in Holland's May poll and
will be part of the coalition
government. They also point t the rise of Jean
Marie Le Pen, leader of the
French racist National Front which garnered 6
million votes in the first
round of the French poll. There is also the
racist Freedom Party of Jorg
Haider of Austria which today holds six cabinet
posts. And then there is the
British National Party which scraped through
council elections this
May.
However, critics argue that Britain benefited from the work
of
immigrants in the past and will continue to do so.
Widely
quoted is the story of a man who now runs one of Europe's most
successful
chain stores, Marks & Spencer. Mark came to England years ago
from the
Middle East when he boarded the wrong ship. Once in England, he got
to work
and today he has contributed much to the British retail industry.
According to Humphrey Malins, the Conservative home affairs
spokesman,
immigrants are entrepreneurial and hard working and have
contributed about
o2,5 billion to the economy over the years.
Zim Standard
Moyo: You have lost the plot
IN the
tortuous world of Zimbabwean journalism, the ultimate
foolishness has to be
Jonathan Moyo's desire to force his deplorable beliefs
on the private press
and foreign correspondents. It won't happen.
No matter how often he
resorts to his grotesque Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA), and no matter how many lawsuits he
files against privately-owned
newspapers and no matter how many
pseudo-journalists on the lunatic fringe he
appoints to his media
commission, it still won't happen.
Jonathan Moyo believes that freedom of the press means a united effort
to
consolidate the alleged gains of the last two decades. He believes it
means
forcing his interpretation of African culture down the throats of the
public.
And he believes it means continuously singing the praises of the
ruling Zanu
PF party.
Well now.all his beliefs are fallacious. While there have
been gains
during the last 22 years, notably in education, there have also
been massive
setbacks. Moyo needs to know that almost all Zimbabweans are
more than a
little perturbed by the fact that they earned more money under
the
quasi-fascist regime of Ian Smith than they do now.
He also
needs to know that the lack of freedom under President
Mugabe's regime is the
source of increasing anger. So no, Jonathan Moyo, we
will not sing the
praises of the last 20 years because that would be
untruthful.
In his anxiety to control everything, much in the manner of pariah
leaders
the world over, Jonathan Moyo has lost the plot. And for that
reason, certain
things need to be spelt out plainly so that even he can
understand them.
Firstly, the independent press will defy him, his crass
legislation-and his
cronies. Independent journalists will not seek
registration because that
would mean acceding to the rest of the draconian
AIPPA. It is also most
improbable that any self-respecting proprietor or
publisher will seek
registration for his newspapers under the monster
created by Moyo and his
cronies.
Any law must be demonstrably and reasonably justified in a
democratic
society. This one, together with the Pubic Order and Security Act
(POSA), is
not and can never be. AIPPA places journalists in the intolerable
dilemma of
having to choose between respect for the law or respect for
standards of
journalism. Any journalist, editor or publisher worth his salt
will simply
ignore the restrictions of the Access to Information and
Protection of
Privacy Act.
In any event, it's impossible in this
age of the Internet and
satellite communication for governments to control
information and to keep
information private. People who choose to be in
public office must accept
that their intimate private lives are fair game for
scrutiny by the news
media.
The point must be made that politics
is one occupation which does not
require any professional qualifications
except of course, the skill to study
one's own interests. Therefore, freedom
of the press can never be a
negotiated commodity.
As for editors
succumbing to scrutiny by a media commission, that,
surely, has to be the
most amusing of all. It's not just the fact that there
will be a commission;
it's also the composition of the commission that has
editors and journalists
smiling.
The general public stopped taking Tafataona Mahoso
seriously when he
continued writing those rambling apologies to the ruling
party in the
fawning state-controlled press-and when the same public, night
after night,
rushed for the off button on their TV sets rather than be
subjected to hours
of torture and deadly boredom from Claude Mararike's
National Ethos and
Nhaka Yedu programmes.
Of course, the whole
business is couched in hypocrisy. The independent
press has suffered a rash
of arrests and harassment by the Zimbabwe Republic
Police since Moyo had his
AIPPA rushed through parliament.
To no one's great surprise, no
journalist from the state-controlled
press has yet seen the inside of a
stinking Harare Central cell. That's
true, despite the wealth of inaccurate
and sometimes downright fibs that
proliferate Jonathan Moyo's so-called
newspapers. So this is hypocrisy on a
massive scale.
We were
told by the government-controlled press not so long ago, that
the opposition
and those curiously hard to find ex-Selous Scouts were
planning to eradicate
the ruling elite with anthrax. When it was discovered
that the strange
substance at the post office was probably less dangerous
than baby powder,
there was deafening silence from both the department of
information and the
police. In any democratic country, that silence would
have led to Jonathan
Moyo's sudden departure from cabinet, but in Zimbabwe
no such thing happened.
Still, no great surprise there.
And still less of a surprise when
another state-controlled mouthpiece,
The Chronicle assured its dwindling
readers that the Movement for Democratic
Change was about to embark on a
massive bombing campaign. Apparently various
urban landmarks were to be razed
to the ground in an effort to destabilise
the Zanu PF government or The
Herald telling the nation that a farmer had
poisoned maize when he
hadn't.
Not surprisingly, police backsides remained glued firmly to
their
chairs when those stories appeared in the government-controlled press.
AIPPA
was never invoked to prevent the state-controlled press from telling
lies.
Rather it exists to force the independent press to toe Jonathan Moyo's
line,
to discredit the opposition and any free-thinking individual who might
argue
with the new men in Mugabe's cabinet-the visitors and strangers in Zanu
PF.
The result of all Moyo's machinations is that harassment and
jail is
the reward for professional journalism in Zimbabwe. But if that is
the way
it has to be, then so be it. It is a better option than the selling
out of
our traditions and ethics to political upstarts who would want to turn
all
newspapers into government gazettes like the current comics in
the
Zimpapers' stable.
Someday, Zimbabwe shall again be free,
but not before all of us close
ranks to fight this absolutely ridiculous
piece of legislation-the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).
Zim Standard
Mudenge and Moyo play the fool
On Sunday
with Chido Makunike
FOR a party that should confidently be getting
on with the business of
solving the country's problems after what it says was
its presidential
candidate's resounding victory, Zanu PF appears to be
proceeding nervously.
Many of the deeds and actions of its members
seem to indicate a
recognition that it is now the underdog, as far as its
hold on the opinions
of Zimbabweans is concerned.
The Public
Order and Security Act and Jonathan Moyo's Information Act,
are not
suggestive of a party confident of its hold on the hearts and minds
of
Zimbabweans, but of an increasingly embattled clique that must resort to
ever
more repressive measures to contain what it knows is a widespread
national
rage against it which will become more and more difficult
to
contain.
It has never been necessary for Zanu PF to resort to
measures as
desperate as those it currently employs to contain all the voices
in
opposition to it, because those voices have never been as many and strong
as
they are now.
One has the impression of a government that is
ruling in the strictest
sense of being in control of the most obvious symbols
of power, such as who
is jailed and prosecuted and for what crime, and who it
allows to do what.
Yet it all seems to be done in a very nervous
way, by a ruling clique
which at some level knows that the uneasy status quo
cannot continue, or at
least not without great cost, including to the ruling
clique itself.
Ruling party officials derive smug satisfaction out
of the most petty
things, and are so defensive in the way they exercise their
power that they
take offence at the most minor of provocations.
President Mugabe garnered widespread derision when he recently went to
New
York for a UN conference, seemingly only to show that he could find
a
loophole in the travel sanctions imposed on him and many of his top aides
by
the West. Foreign minister Mudenge went to town about how ineffective
the
so-called sanctions were.
The fact that sanctions have
always been porous and relatively easy to
get around became more of a
gloating point than the far more serious fact of
the continued blocking off
of credit and aid to a country economically on
its knees. Even if every
Mugabe minister were able to visit any western
capital of their choice
despite the sanctions imposed on them, it would
still be an empty victory in
no way diminishing the fact that Mugabe and his
government are in a fix they
seem unable to extricate themselves from, hence
the increased threats against
and arrests of opponents both real and
imagined.
There is the
implicit recognition that the explosive social and
economic pressures caused
by the Mugabe regime which have made it a pariah
government in much of the
world will sooner or later be uncontainable by
conventional
means.
Speaking of Mudenge, the once gloating minister recently
looked
absolutely pathetic when he had to use the press to lobby and plead
for a
visa from his in-laws, the Germans, in order to attend his
daughter's
wedding in their country. He may grovel to such an extent that
they have no
option but grant him the visa in disgust.
But how
demeaning! Just as demeaning as having the bravado of saying:
"Look at me,
here I am in New York City despite the travel ban on me" while
losing sight
of the wider picture-the great depredations your citizens are
being forced to
experience as a result of your being considered an
international
outlaw.
Mudenge, take your revenge on these rude, disrespectful
German
vakwashas of yours by charging them 10 times the lobola you had
already
charged. Ngati wa ripise.
An additional condition must
be that the lobola be paid in US dollars,
strictly bank notes so that we
don't have to process the money through the
bank, where it will yield very
little since the regime of which you are a
part has made our currency
virtually worthless. Better get it in cash so
that you can convert it on the
black market which you will find operating on
any street corner.
Another option would be to deposit it in Germany under the name of
your
German son-in-law. That way, if Mugabe is ever unceremoniously kicked
out of
power, you have a nice nest egg for your exile where you can continue
to live
in the comfort to which you have become accustomed as a result of
having fed
at the public trough for so long.
One of the many ways in which the
MDC is different from previous
opposition parties is in the confidence it
derives from its large support
base. Unlike previous opposition parties, many
of the MDC officials do not
feel forced to turn the other cheek when slapped
by Zanu PF. Many of the
party's 'Young Turks' are quite prepared to respond
in kind to the
provocations the ruling party has become accustomed to
inflicting with
impunity.
However, in spite of all this, Mugabe
is now protected by new laws
which allow him to keep on insulting those who
have little respect for him
and are not afraid to say so, while permitting
the authorities to
immediately jump on people who give him a taste of his own
medicine. Is this
being tough, or merely chicken?
Mugabe
propagandist, Jonathan Moyo, also enjoys talking tough like his
boss and
often in the crudest of terms. Yet let anybody fight him on the
same
level-which is in the mud-and he will not react like the tough
politician he
likes to think he is but will go to his lawyers crying: "My
ego and feelings
have been hurt, please sue all the people who have
responded in kind to my
insults."
It is said that you can judge the strength and character
of a person
by how quickly they take offence. A bully with some power
advantage over
people will terrorise them with impunity until someone with
the courage to
challenge him and whip him at his own game comes along, then
he goes crying
off somewhere for protection.
Speaking of Moyo,
one of the things Zanu PF will not have to worry
about any more, now that the
talks between the party and the MDC have broken
off, is that he may defect to
the opposition. Moyo, once Mugabe's staunchest
critic, was somehow persuaded
to become Mugabe's staunchest defender,
complete with ministerial post,
official Mercedes Benz, and the power to
cause woe and trepidation to all
those Zimbabweans who dared say the same
things about Mugabe that Moyo so
eloquently said just a few years ago!
I must admit that during the
talks, I was very worried for poor
embattled Mugabe and Zanu PF that the
temperamental Moyo would suddenly
leave the ruling party's side and bolt to
the opposition party. A rather
cynical Zanu PF friend of mine dismissed my
concerns with, "You're crazy. At
the moment, Zanu PF has deep pockets and can
offer anyone more protection
than can the MDC."
Speaking of
which, given the power Moyo has to turn people off with
his intemperate
language, even when making a perfectly valid point, I
shudder to think what
will become of him when he no longer has Mugabe's
protective skirts to cling
to.
The Ford Foundation in Kenya and the US, not to mention
Wits
University in South Africa, are eager to get their hands on him about
what
they allege are millions that went missing while he worked for
them.
Locally, a lot of daggers are drawn out for poor
Moyo.
Zim Standard
Unemployment rate exceeds 70%
By Paul
Nyakazeya
MASSIVE retrenchments and company closures have pushed
Zimbabwe's
unemployment rate to an unprecedented 7O% rate, economists have
said.
Economic analysts told Standard Business last week that the
high
inflationary environment and the government's reluctance to tackle
economic
problems were negatively impacting on companies, leading to
reduced
production.
This has resulted in companies
retrenching workers or reducing working
hours in order to cut down on
production costs.The worst affected companies
have been forced to close down,
throwing thousands of workers onto the
streets.
A survey by
Standard Business in Harare's industrial sites revealed
that several
companies had closed down, with many of them retrenching their
staff and
reducing working hours.
Workers who spoke to this paper said
operations at their companies
were difficult and that prospects of recovery
were not bright.
Grey Rakafa, who was retrenched from Willowvale
Mazda Motor Industries
(WMMI), said he was considering migrating to
Botswana.
"I don't think I can still get a job here. I have to go
outside the
country and look for something to do," Rakafa said.
A spokesman of the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
(EMCOZ)
told Standard Business that there were slim chances of companies
performing
to their full capacity because of the acute foreign currency
shortages and
the isolation of the country by major foreign partners.
Economic
consultant, John Robertson, said the rise in unemployment
rate was not
surprising considering the invasion into companies by
self-styled war
veterans last year, foreign currency shortages and price
controls, among
other things, which were burdening non-performing companies.
Said
Robertson: " The job market will disappear very soon. It is vital
to
stimulate job creation. There are a lot of students from colleges
and
universities coming out with flying colours, who are looking for
employment.
"
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) economist
Godfrey Kanyenze
said: "While we expect unemployment to be addressed through
the promotion of
opportunities to create jobs, it is apparent there have been
no concerted
efforts to address the problem such that in the long term, we
fear the rate
of unemployment will escalate to over 70%."
According the the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), more
than 450
companies closed operations last year because of the prohibitive
operational
conditions characterised by high input costs, hard currency
shortages, high
levels of interest rates, inflationary levels as well as the
uncompetitive
export market.
It is against this background that the government
called for renewed
vigour in the promotion of the informal sector. But many
do not believe that
this sector can turn around the fortunes of the
economy.
The United Nations Human rights development report (2002)
cites
Zimbabwe as the country in the Southern African Development Community
(SADC)
region with the highest number of labour
emigrants.
Zim Standard
Over the top
By Brian Latham
THE legal profession in a troubled
central African nation
is in disarray following moves to make letter-writing
illegal. Lawyers point
out that the move is more sinister than it looks. The
lawyers claim that
from time to time men in dark glasses and nylon suits
write letters on your
behalf, send them off and then have you arrested for
writing letters you
never wrote.
Meanwhile, the
leaders of the Zany party are crowing with
delight over their brilliant ploy,
saying it's almost as clever as playing
around with video footage. At least
with letters there are no digital
numbers that make time run
backwards.
Still, the lawyers aren't pleased. For a
start, the
grammar is terrible, said one legal expert of the men in dark
glasses and
cheap nylon suits. The least they could do would be to get
someone with a
working knowledge of English.
The
letter writing scheme comes in the wake of an
increasing number of arrests of
lawyers and journalists in the troubled
central African country. It has
become a matter of honour to be hauled down
to the cop shop, said one
journalist, adding that the company in the cells
was an improvement on the
company in the charge office.
But the government of the
troubled central African country
expressed puzzlement over the lawyers'
concerns. We thought they'd be
pleased that we're making their work easier,
said a spokesman from the
ministry of misinformation. After all, we know that
most lawyers are
dangerous subversives in the pay of capitalist imperialists.
They'd have
eventually written those letters themselves, so all we've done is
speed up
the wheels of justice a little.
And in
another surprising move, foreign lawyers have been
declared enemies of the
state. They join a long list that includes five
million urban citizens,
so-called independent journalists, farmers who
aren't members of the Zany
party, minority groups and anyone who has imposed
sanctions on the troubled
central African country's troubled leaders.
Speaking to
a handful of party loyalists recently, the
troubled central African nation's
injustice minister, Comrade Pat O'China
banned judges from visiting
neighbouring countries to attend subversive
meetings. The move followed an
application by a leading judge to visit
colleagues for a friendly chat. We
know these people are responsible for the
fact that the most equal of all
comrades can't take his wife to
Bloomingdale's and for that they need to be
punished, said O'China.
An increasing number of Zany
party leaders and their wives
are appearing on lists in western nations, it
has been reported. Those
affected say that having one's name on a list makes
life very troublesome.
It is very difficult now, complained the wife of one
of the country's less
educated generals, after reading the letter to her
husband. What's the point
in living in this God forsaken place if we can't
dash over to that muddy
little island between Ireland and France for a bit of
shopping? The troubled
general's troubled wife said at the rate things were
going there would be
six billion enemies of the state against the six
remaining members of the
Zany party, and then where would she
be?
And in a desperate effort to placate his wife, the
general
asked her to shut up before someone in dark glasses and a nasty nylon
suit
overheard her remarks. "Before you know it," he whispered, "You'll
discover
that you've written a letter to an imperialist power threatening to
overturn
the state unless your account at Harrods is
reinstated.
Then I know exactly where we'll be. The
general said she
better get used to shopping in Kinshasa where he knew they
did a brisk trade
in small shiny stones to see them through the lean
times.
Mugabe targets the media as economy sinks
Andrew Meldrum in
Harare
Sunday June 9, 2002
The Observer
Zimbabwe, once one of
Africa's most prosperous economies, is now one of its
basket cases. The
extent of its economic decline as President Robert Mugabe
clings to power is
highlighted in the latest quarterly report by the
Economist Intelligence
Unit, to be released tomorrow.
The report says that 'the political crisis and
ad hoc, confused economic
policy will continue to drive a rapid economic
decline'.
Over the past few years Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by at
least a third
and will soon be only half its former size. Finance Minister
Simba Makoni
recently spelled out to parliament the severity of the economic
problems,
saying that every major sector shrank by at least 5 per cent in
2001 and was
heading for the same decline this year.
In 1990 Zimbabwe
was the third largest economy in the 15-nation Southern
African Development
Community. But years of mismanagement by the Mugabe
government have been
exacerbated by two years of crisis marked by invasions
of white-owned
commercial farms, disruptions in industry and state-sponsored
violence in the
2000 parliamentary elections and 2002 presidential race.
The report
estimates that Zimbabwe's economy is outperformed by once smaller
economies,
such as Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. Its inflation rate has been
more than 100
per cent for two years, and unemployment has soared to 60
per
cent.
'Even as Mr Mugabe further entrenches himself in power, the
sheer scale of
the country's economic problems, the growing food crisis and
international
isolation may eventually force him to seek a solution to the
political
impasse,' says the EIU.
The US government threatened last
week to tighten its sanctions against the
Mugabe regime in reply to its
recent crackdown on the press and lawyers. In
the 11 weeks since a repressive
new media act became law, the government has
arrested 12 journalists and
pressed 21 charges against 11 of them. I am
among their number, and face
trial in Harare this week.
Last week it jailed the president and
secretary of the Law Society of
Zimbabwe and charged them with plotting to
topple the government, along with
the British Government and the opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC). As evidence, the police
submitted letters from the Law Society
to the British High Commission.
Diplomats and lawyers have dismissed the
letters as 'crude
forgeries'.
The International Bar Association also criticised the
arrests, saying the
harsh laws are 'not reasonably justifiable in a
democratic society'.
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 9
June
Governor's wife defies price
controls
Masvingo - Ruth Hungwe, the wife of the Masvingo provincial
governor Josiah Hungwe, is defying government price controls by selling mealie
meal at above stipulated prices, residents of Masvingo have alleged. Ruth, a
retired nurse turned businesswoman is reported to be charging exorbitant prices
for the staple food. Masvingo provincial police spokesman, Inspector Learn
Ncube, said if the governor's wife was found to be violating price controls, the
law would take its course. "Law is law, and it should apply to everybody
regardless of the fact that one is the governor or the governor's wife," he
said. The residents claim that the businesswoman, who owns a grinding mill in
Rujeko high density suburb, acquires maize from the Grain marketing Board at
controlled prices and grinds it for resale as mealie meal. A Standard
correspondent who went to the grinding mill, posing as a desperate man looking
for mealie meal was told that a 20 kg of the scarce commodity was going for $800
instead of government pegged price of $495. Contacted for a comment Ruth denied
that she was buying maize from the GMB and reselling it at exorbitant prices. "I
have since stopped buying from GMB. People come with their own maize to be
grinded at my mill," she said. A GMB worker who preferred not to be named also
confirmed that Ruth was buying mealie meal in bulk. "If retailers come here, we
do not check whether their intention is to make a killing or not,' he said.
Mugabe targets the media as
economy sinks
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
Sunday June 9, 2002
The Observer
Zimbabwe, once one of Africa's most
prosperous economies, is now one of its basket cases. The extent of its economic
decline as President Robert Mugabe clings to power is highlighted in the latest
quarterly report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, to be released tomorrow.
The report says that 'the political crisis and ad hoc, confused economic
policy will continue to drive a rapid economic decline'.
Over the past few years Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by at least a third and
will soon be only half its former size. Finance Minister Simba Makoni recently
spelled out to parliament the severity of the economic problems, saying that
every major sector shrank by at least 5 per cent in 2001 and was heading for the
same decline this year.
In 1990 Zimbabwe was the third largest economy in the 15-nation Southern
African Development Community. But years of mismanagement by the Mugabe
government have been exacerbated by two years of crisis marked by invasions of
white-owned commercial farms, disruptions in industry and state-sponsored
violence in the 2000 parliamentary elections and 2002 presidential race.
The report estimates that Zimbabwe's economy is outperformed by once smaller
economies, such as Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. Its inflation rate has been more
than 100 per cent for two years, and unemployment has soared to 60 per cent.
'Even as Mr Mugabe further entrenches himself in power, the sheer scale of
the country's economic problems, the growing food crisis and international
isolation may eventually force him to seek a solution to the political impasse,'
says the EIU.
The US government threatened last week to tighten its sanctions against the
Mugabe regime in reply to its recent crackdown on the press and lawyers. In the
11 weeks since a repressive new media act became law, the government has
arrested 12 journalists and pressed 21 charges against 11 of them. I am among
their number, and face trial in Harare this week.
Last week it jailed the president and secretary of the Law Society of
Zimbabwe and charged them with plotting to topple the government, along with the
British Government and the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). As evidence, the police submitted letters from the Law Society to the
British High Commission. Diplomats and lawyers have dismissed the letters as
'crude forgeries'.
The International Bar Association also criticised the arrests, saying the
harsh laws are 'not reasonably justifiable in a democratic society'.
Mugabe
starving the opposition: MDC
HARARE -
Zimbabwe's opposition has accused President Mugabe of withholding food aid from
its supporters even as the country is experiencing a major food crisis.
Distribution of food packages have been halted by the government in several
areas known as opposition strongholds, said Welchman Ncube, a leading official
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The government has denied the opposition claims, but independent aid workers
and human rights groups have raised concerns over unfair distribution and
interference in relief programs by local state officials and ruling party
militants.
"Mugabe is responsible for the hunger of children across Zimbabwe on the
basis (of whether or not) their parents support the MDC," Ncube said.
Ncube's accusations came as Mugabe arrived in Rome for a UN food summit that
is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
Zimbabwe is among several southern African countries seeking food aid to
avert starvation among their people.
Ncube described Mugabe's trip to Rome as a cynical ploy to skirt a European
Union travel ban on Mugabe and top officials imposed to protest human and
democratic rights violations following disputed presidential elections in March.
"(Mugabe) has the gall to say he is going to a food conference when he has
destroyed agriculture and food security in this country," Ncube said.
Severe food shortages have been caused by erratic rains and farm disruptions
in a government program to nationalize 95 percent of white-owned farms.
The US-funded Famine Early Warning System Network estimates nearly one fourth
of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people are currently facing hunger.
The World Food Program estimates half the population will need food aid to
avert starvation this year.
Sapa-AP
From The Sunday Times (SA), 9
June
High noon for the press in
Zimbabwe
A major showdown is looming between the Zimbabwean government
and the independent press over the licensing of media houses and journalists,
which is to start in a few days. The battle lines were already drawn as
independent press proprietors, journalist unions and media watchdogs began
mobilising this week to challenge the government on the press legislation. They
want to avoid closures and job losses if they are denied registration. In terms
of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, media companies and
journalists have to be licensed with effect from June 16 to be able to continue
operating. The Act stipulates that no one will be allowed to own or run a "mass
media service" such as a newspaper, news agency, radio or television station,
film company, advertising agency or publishing concern unless it is registered
with the government-controlled Media and Information Commission, which was set
up to regulate the media. It also states that foreigners are not allowed to own
or run a media organisation. Journalists will have to be accredited by the
commission to continue working.
According to the independent media, the commission, headed by
media lecturer Tafataona Mahoso, is packed with supporters of the government.
Its members were handpicked by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who has been
locked in combat with the independent media since his appointment in 2000. Legal
experts say it is almost certain that the press law is unconstitutional in many
areas. A parliamentary legal committee, chaired by veteran politician and lawyer
Eddison Zvobgo, said the requirement for media houses to be registered was
designed to limit the free flow of information and freedom of expression. The
committee, which included opposition MP Welshman Ncube, said: "It should be
obvious that the only possible reason for this provision is to impose control by
government over mass media owners and their products." "They cannot operate
without registration. To that extent, this provision restricts the freedom of
expression of mass media owners," it said. The Act says that if a media house's
registration certificate is cancelled, it must cease to operate and may not
reapply for registration for two years. "This restriction is wholly arbitrary
and, for that reason, unconstitutional," the committee said. It also said
attempts to license journalists were ultra vires.
The Zimbabwean branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa
expressed outrage at the appointment to the commission of pro-government
"political activists whose hatred of sections of the Zimbabwean media is well
known". The institute said the commission's impartiality was questionable: "It
is doubtful whether the commission will be able to act impartially when it is
stuffed with political activists and those with intolerant tendencies whose
contempt of dissent is well documented." The Media Monitoring Project of
Zimbabwe said the commission had a huge credibility gap. "The commission itself
is not an independent body since it is appointed by a government minister and is
entirely accountable to him," it said. "While the commission purports to
encourage and enforce ethical and professional journalistic practice, its
functions serve to restrict the public's constitutional rights to freedom of
expression."