This week President Robert Mugabes name was added to a list of Predators of Press Freedom complied by Reporters Without Borders. His 39 fellow predators include Eritreas President, Issaias Afeworki, who is responsible for a clampdown on independent press that has led to the country being labelled Africas biggest prison for the media. It also includes the President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, who publicly declared that his government was, ready to kill saboteurs. The leader of The Kuwait of Africa, Equatorial Guineas Teodoro Obiang Nguema is also on the list, not to mention Mugabes chum, President Hu Jintao of China.
This time last year a well-known Zimbabwean journalist, Anderson Manyere, spent World Press Freedom Day on the run after a four month stint in jail. How much has truly changed in a year?
This years theme for World Press Freedom Day is Freedom of Information: the right to know. How much information does the average Zimbabwean receive from the mass media in our country?
Mugabes stranglehold on press freedom remains tight. Those who speak the truth continue to be harassed, arbitrarily arrested and intimidated. Even foreign delegates are not immune to a telling off from the president.
We carry a story about Mary Robinson, first female President of Ireland who is currently working for the United Nations, being summoned by Mugabe after speaking out against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Apparently she offended him by telling the truth about how the Global Political Agreement was not being adhered to. She was lucky enough to get away with a reprimand. Jestina Mukoko, who joined Robinson on the platform at the womens constitutional conference, described her personal hell after being arrested for speaking out against injustice.
We echo the call made by the Womens Coalition Deputy Chairwoman, Rutendo Hadebe, that meaningful change wont come in our country unless the government opens the airwaves, licenses new independent newspapers, scraps draconian legislation such as AIPAA and stops harassing journalists and independent newspaper distributors.
We demand an end to this predatory clampdown on press and individual freedoms. The people of Zimbabwe have a right to know the truth about what is happening on their doorstep. Those with something to say should no longer be scared to speak out. We are in the process of drafting a new constitution for our nation and media freedom is something we should ensure is enshrined in it.
Post published in: Editor: Wilf Mbanga