26 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Freedom of expression abuses are still common in Zimbabwe despite the formation of a power sharing agreement last year, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The New York-based organisation revealed that no licenses for independent media outlets have been issued by the ZANU-PF and Movement for Democratic Change unity government since the political deal took effect last February. In other news, the Zimbabwean freelance journalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere was arrested for the third time this year on Monday (1 March), the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed. He was taken into custody outside a courthouse in Harare after he filmed the arrival of several men accused of attempting to overthrow the government. In a letter to the Guardian, Tom Porteous, London director of HRW, cited this case as proof that easing European Union sanctions in the South African country would merely increase repression.
19 Jan 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Journalist
Stanley Kwenda has fled to South Africa after alleging that he received a death threat by telephone from a senior police officer, linked to a story he wrote in
The Zimbabwean. The newspaper says that “‘impeccable sources” have supplied them with the name of a senior member of the police’s law and order section, who has been associated over the years with the arrest and torture of opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists, but they cannot publish it for legal reasons.
In the current issue of Index on Censorship magazine Kwende writes that coalition government in Zimbabwe has so far failed to deliver on its promise of greater media freedom. Read it here.
Meanwhile, the
Media Institute of Southern Africa has “cautiously welcomed”the appointment of commissioners to the Zimbabwe Media Commission, while recognising that the commission could still be used to enforce the repressive provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
3 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
The Zimbabwean government is reported to be lodging a formal diplomatic complaint with Botswana over the alleged transmission of foreign radio news broadcasts into their territory. The state-controlled Herald newspaper, closely aligned with the former ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe, quoted Foreign Affairs Secretary Joey Bimha as saying the government objects to the transmission of what Bimha called “hate messages” from Botswana. Read more here
12 Nov 2009 | Index Index
O’Brien Rwafa, Jacob Phiri and Freedom Moyo, employees of state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), were suspended from their positions for ten days. The three men were accused of leaking information about a government directive stipulating that state media should refrain from coverage of government ministers from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangiri. (Misa)
Read more
