He was locked up, most of the time in solitary confinement, after being
kidnapped by the police on 13 December last year. A South African
Broadcasting Corporation documentary released last month revealed the
full horror of Robert Mugabe’s jails – with skeletal prisoners
receiving a bowl of gruel per day and dead bodies piled haphazardly in
a storeroom.
Last week, Manyere was eventually released on bail. But the two
Movement for Democratic Change officials arrested and released with him
were arrested again 48 hours later, with no warrant. And the police are
hunting Manyere.
His experience is not unique. Many journalists operating in Mugabe’s
Zimbabwe have suffered in the past decade. Kidnapping, arbitrary
arrest, torture, constant harassment ; terror tactics – and even murder
– are all tactics used by the regime to retain a strangle-hold on the
press. Edward Chikomba was kidnapped by state agents last year and his
tortured body was found dumped in the bush a few days later.
Freedom of the press has always been elusive in Zimbabwe. At
independence in 1980 the new government inherited a well-oiled state
broadcasting network and bought the country’s largest newspaper company
within months of taking power.
Increasingly over the next two decades, as corruption and human rights
abuses increased, the state tightened its grip on information control.
Mugabe’s battle against the media hit a new low in 2003 with the
passing of the draconian and misnamed Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). This made it mandatory for all
journalists and media organisations operating inside the country to be
registered (that is, policed) by the Media and Information Commission.
Headed by an unashamed Mugabe apologist, Tafataona Mahoso, the MIC
holds the dubious honour of having closed down five independent
newspapers including The Daily News and its sister Sunday paper, in its
first two years of existence.
The message to journalists is very clear – life can be easy for you if
you are prepared to toe the Zanu (PF) line. If you insist on remaining
true to the ethics of your profession, life will be difficult and
painful.
As a result, many Zimbabwean journalists have fled into exile, and
resorted to publishing on websites – to which the majority of those
inside the country, where the toll in human suffering is now way beyond
that of a war zone, have no access.
In an effort to keep Zimbabweans on the ground informed, an independent
weekly, The Zimbabwean, and its sister Sunday are published in South
Africa and trucked into the country. The Mugabe regime has tried to
silence this through the imposition in July last year of 70% "luxury"
import tax. Three months after the formation of the government of
national unity, the tax has been reduced to 50% but remains firmly in
place and has severely curtailed the print run.
Under such conditions it is virtually impossible to operate as a
professional news organisation. We do our best to get the story out and
break the silence by exposing the appalling human rights abuses and
government corruption. The finer points of journalism have,
regrettably, had to be compromised in the desperate battle for access
to information. This is guerrilla journalism.
Journalists in exile, whose hopes were raised with the formation of the
new government in February, wait in increasing despair for some sign of
meaningful change – such as the removal of draconian anti-press
legislation. So far, there are no such glimmers of hope.
The Guardian (UK)
Post published in: News