streets throughout Zimbabwe. Just before it ceased publishing in mid
June circulation had soared to 200,000 copies a week.
In a vicious attack aimed at destroying press freedom in Zimbabwe, the
delivery truck and 60,000 copies of the African Day issue were torched
on May 24 by plain-clothed, state-sponsored thugs, armed with new
AK-47s and driving two un-marked 4×4 vehicles. They beat the driver and
his assistant with their rifle butts and left them abandoned in the
middle of nowhere at night.
Undaunted by this destructive cruelty, the paper continued to be
published and distributed throughout the country, where it was warmly
welcomed by thousands of readers – eager for real news, and not
propaganda.
But the Mugabe regime had another weapon up its sleeve. Within weeks,
the state's chief propagandist, George Charamba, declared that imported
newspapers were luxury items. A punitive duty of 70% was immediately
slapped onto The Zimbabwean and the Zimbabwean on Sunday.
For a few weeks, we managed to keep going. But the duty was
unsustainable and with deep regret we were forced to suspend
publication of the Sunday paper and reduced the print-run of The
Zimbabwean from 200,000 to 60,000 a week. We were also forced to raise
the cover price considerably.
The net result of all this was that millions of Zimbabweans have, since
then, been denied their right to access to accurate information – while
continuing to be bombarded with crude and hate-filled state propaganda
on a daily basis.