Court upholds Tribune closure

Court upholds Tribune closure

THE TRIBUNE

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By Agencies

A ZIMBABWE court today upheld a state media commission's decision to shut down a weekly newspaper in what critics see as a continued crackdown on the press by President Robert Mugabe's government.

The Tribune newspaper was published by Kindness Paradza, a legislator from Mugabe's ruling Zanu(PF). Paradza was expelled by a ruling party provincial committee last month after criticising harsh new media laws seen aimed at muzzling government critics.

The Media and Information Commission responsible for registering media in Zimbabwe said Paradza's Africa Tribune Newspapers failed to advise it of a change in the company's name as required under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Paradza had asked the High Court to allow the paper to publish, saying his newspaper had complied with the law. Paradza would not say whether he would appeal today's ruling.

In June when the Tribune's publication was halted, the US state department condemned the move as part of a government assault on the media. Richard Boucher, state department spokesman, said Zimbabwe's Media and Information Commission "seems clearly intent on using the country's draconian media legislation as a political tool to silence voices that are raising legitimate concerns about the Zimbabwean government's corruption, human rights violations, economic mismanagement and abuse of democratic institutions and the rule of law."

The cancellation of the Tribune's license followed the banning of Daily News, Zimbabwe's leading private newspaper, in 2003 for publishing without a license as required by the media laws, enacted soon after Mugabe's controversial re-election as president in March 2002. Mugabe says private media have spearheaded a Western propaganda campaign against his government over its seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. - Reuters
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