Yearning for press freedom in Zimbabwe

Yearning for press freedom in Zimbabwe

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By Ntungamili Nkomo

ZIMBABWEAN journalists worth their being will testify without fear, equivocation, or prevarication that the May 3 celebrations revisited upon them some dreadful sense of consternation and melancholy as they joined the global media fraternity in commemorating World Press Freedom Day.

That press freedom was totally non-existent in this failed state was indubitable; and the question that they, including myself, must have asked themselves was; now that the Mugabe regime has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that its intentions are to make repressive media regulatory instruments, the laws of the Medes and the Persians, what do we do as a profession, what is the way forward?

I recall chatting with one bosom buddy of mine, a human rights lawyer by profession, on the eve of the commemorations who suggested that a concerted and sustained campaign of aggressive lobbying for the repeal of the diabolical Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) was the only panacea for our anguish as scribes.

My learned friend’s submissions made absolute sense to me. Not because I am an unpatriotic element, as some government lunatics would be quick to point out, but simply because I am one individual who subscribes to the progressive view that despots have to be tackled head-on.

I could not contain my elation when I phoned a colleague in Harare on Wednesday who informed me that he was amongst the 100 journalists who had just finished a street demonstration calling for the repeal of AIPPA, at the same time demanding a total dismantling of the notorious Media and Information Commission (MIC) to make way for a self-regulatory body that will not pursue politics of appeasement at the expense of the profession’s integrity, but deal with real issues affecting journalists.

I was pleased there were courageous scribes who had the guts to stand up and demand an observation of their rights by the government. TO YOU ALL GUYS WHO WERE PART OF THIS NOBLE ACTION I SAY BRAVO AND ALUTA CONTINUA!

My heart however, sank when I remembered that nothing of that sort was taking place in Bulawayo, where I am based. There are journalists in this beautiful city, a lot of them, both from the private and the public media but they seem to be so diametrically positioned in their line of duty that it would take a fortune to bring them together. But understandably so, because so-called independent journalists here are a minority while those who work for the public media, who have never been affected by AIPPA, are a majority.

Without wanting to sound any malicious, the scenario obtaining here regarding press freedom is shocking and wholly deplorable, to say the least. According to global media representative bodies’ barometers, Zimbabwe is ranked as one of the worst violators of press freedom, and has also been described by the United States, alongside Burma and North Korea as an “outpost of tyranny.”

With due respect to my countrymen, I must submit that I am not in any slightest way attempting to qualify this description, for I am no scholar in political science, but to some extent, Harare seems to be moving steadily to cocoon itself into this category by its continued enactment of more repressive laws.

Has anyone heard about the recently mooted Interception of Communications Bill which will without doubt, deal a blow to independent journalists and the generality of Zimbabweans? If you did not know about it, the law seeks to licence the CIO to snoop on your email and other ITC conversations you may want to have with your friends or associates.

Has anyone also read about the Anti-Terrorism Bill? What about the Criminal Codification Act which subjects Zimbabwean journalists and general citizens to 20 years in prison should they be convicted of insulting or lampooning the person of the president?

By any standard, I must submit, as has many level headed colleagues, lawyers, some of them the best legal brains ever to walk this earth and other concerned citizens - AIPPA and the BAS are veritably diabolic pieces of legislation that should be abrogated without delay while security laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) (a reincarnate of the equally infamous Law and Order Maintenance Act – LOMA of the colonial times) under which several journalists have been incarcerated and detained in filthy cells, should also be flashed down the drain.

The arrest recently of Sydney Saize, my former workmate at the banned daily, The Daily News; the incarceration of two Botswana Television (BTV) reporters in Plumtree for investigating an outbreak of foot-and-mouth; the clobbering of Harare-based freelance journalist Gift Phiri by suspected security agents; the arrest of VOP directors including John Masuku and the subsequent closure of their radio station are pointers that freedom of the press is extraterrestrial in this country.

For those who may differ, will they please explain the fate that befell The Daily News and its sister paper, The Daily News on Sunday? Will they justify the closure of The Tribune and the The Weekly Times? Will they also tell the people why we have hundreds of Zimbabwean journalists broadcasting or writing stories from outside Zimbabwe?

Will they explain why we have a burgeoning industry of online publications such as ZimOnline and New Zimbabwe.com operating from foreign domains? Will they also tell us why we have programmes such as Studio 7 and Short Wave Radio Africa broadcasting across the sea from alien soils?

I would also challenge them to testify why those who bombed The Daily News’ printing press and the complex that housed VOP some years ago have not been brought to book?

The answer is that, it is not all by accident. We have a repressive and paranoid regime that has earned the distinction of trivialising the freedom of the press as was explained by Presidential Secretary, George Charamba in a Herald column.
Charamba, maintaining a legacy that seems to have been bequeathed upon him by discredited former information tsar, Jonathan Moyo, argued that “Nowhere in human history has any nation sacrificed its sovereignty for a lesser freedom, least of all press freedom.”

Does anyone notice the type of regime that we are dealing with? Does someone also recall the repeated threats that were constantly churned out by Jonathan Moyo during his heydays as Mugabe’s right-hand man?

For those who might have forgotten, probably because the threats had little to do with them, I will take them down memory lane. Moyo once issued out a statement saying: “Mercenaries of any kind, whether carrying the sword or the pen, will be exposed and will suffer the consequences of the law.”

Jonathan Moyo was talking about independent journalists whom he accused of being bought by western powers with the greenback to demonise the regime that he then-so-much loved. Calling journalists mercenaries is stupidity of the worst kind.

And then came the incumbent, Tichaona Jokonya. Some of my colleagues thought a messiah had arrived, but I had my own personal reservations -- for he was joining a bandwagon of truth haters, so he had to toe the line. Not to be outdone, Jokonya came and branded independent journalists terrorists. What insensitivity!

All these clear testimonies of government’s determination not to observe the freedom of the press should therefore serve as an impetus on all well-meaning journalists to lobby authorities for the better.

If someone still has qualms about the non-existence of media freedom here, I would refer you to Chris Gande of Studio 7, he will tell you why he is now based in America. Contact Ray Choto, he will also tell you how he and the late Mark Chavhunduka (May his soul rest in everlasting peace) were tortured by state security apparatus for simply doing their job.

Also ask Andrew Meldrum what fate befell him under AIPPA. Ask New Zimbabwe.com editor Mduduzi Mathuthu why this online newspaper cannot be published from Zimbabwe.

After doing so, if anyone still argues there is press freedom in Zimbabwe, then, I give up on them. I rest my case, for they are a hopeless case.

Ntungamili Nkomo is a former Daily News reporter writing from Bulawayo. He can be contacted on ntungab@yahoo.co.uk
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