Minister threatens newspapers

Minister Shamu issued what he said was the final warning against media organisations denigrating President Robert Mugabe and the country’s leadership. He was addressing mourners during the burial of former Harare province’s Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association vice chairman, Christopher Pasipamire, at the Heroes Acre at Warren Hills cemetery in Harare.

Ironically, Shamu’s threats came a day before the launch of the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission’s media council, Zimbabwe Media Council.

“We will work together with the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to revoke those licences because we cannot watch while the country’s leadership is assaulted,” said Shamu.

MISA-Zimbabwe position

The minister’s statements vitiate against the principles of media freedom and media self-regulation as stipulated under the Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa. The declaration stipulates that media self-regulation is the best system of instilling professionalism in the media.

The minister, let alone the government, cannot play a watchdog role over the media as is the case with the statutory ZMC. It is the media that should play that role over the three arms of the state to foster access to information, freedom of expression, transparency and accountability on the part of public officials and institutions.

His remarks which should be widely condemned, smack of sinister intentions to silence opposing views through threats of closure of newspapers under the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

MISA-Zimbabwe therefore reiterates its unequivocal support for media self-regulation as epitomised through the establishment of the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) and in terms of the Banjul Declaration.