zimscoop

Free but not free

2008-07-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

I may have been removed from remand on July 14 together with 13 MDC activists on spurious charges but I continue to recieve threats from the state machinery. I now fear for my life.

Zimbabwe is my country, mine and for us all. I have nowhere to run to. But I believe everything has an ending.

Free at last

2008-07-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

A Harare magistrate removed me from remand together with 13 MDC activists on July 14 after the state failed to kickstart the trial for the fifth time.

This means the state will now have to proceed by way of summons , if it's necessary at all.

Armed policemen and state security agents arrested me April 15 and concocted charges of public violence against me and MDC activists in order to justify a crackdown on the opposition parties and undermine press freedom.

I was in the line of my journalistic duties when I was nabbed.

I am under siege

2008-06-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

Zanu PF supporters and war veterans besieged my Harare home Tuesday and abducted my 14 year-old nephew and took her to a ruling party base where the abductors forced the teenager to sing revolutionary songs as well as denounce MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. They also quizzed her on my whereabouts.

My life is now at risk.

House of Assembly Final Results

2008-04-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

MDC (Tsvnagirai) - 99
Zanu-PF - 97
MDC (Mutambara) - 10
Jonathan Moyo (Independent) -1

Results as at 1830 hours

2008-03-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

Mhangura
ZANU PF 11 042
MDC 1647
MDC 716

Kadoma Central

MDC (Tsv) 8 180
ZANU PF 2 738

Zvimba West
ZANU PF 7 281
MDC 3 801

Chitungwiza North

MDC (Tsv) 7 539
ZANU PF 2 073
MDC (Mut) 734
UPP 47

Zvimba East

ZANU PF 5 197
MDC (Ts) 3 554

Zaka West

MDC (Tsv) 4734
ZANU PF 4 030
PAFA 347
Indep 307

Mudzi South

ZANU PF 8 202
MDC (Tsv) 2 735
MDC (Mut) 1 370
UPP 180

Mazowe Central

MDC (Tsv) 5 573
ZANU PF (Chimutengwende) 4 136
UPP 119
ZPDP 79

Maramba-Pfungwe

ZANU PF 14 916
MDC (Tsv) 1 947
Indep 46

Kuwadzana

MDC (Matibenga) 8 763
ZANU PF 2 048
UPP 198
ZDP 58

Goromonzi North

ZANU PF 5 626
MDC (Tsv) 4 845
Zaka Central
MDC (Tsv) 5 972
ZANU PF 4 974
MDC (Mut) 1 255
Indep 289
Gutu West
ZANU PF 5 054
MDC (Tsv) 4 082
ZANU PF 2 384
Masvingo Central
MDC (Tsv) 4 905
ZANU PF 4 793
Indep 327
ZDP 293
UPP 250
**************************************************
Southerton
MDC (Tsv) 6092
ZANU PF 1 334
MDC (Mut) 900
UPP 99
Murehwa North
ZANU PF 7 104
MDC (Tsv) 6 468
Mabvuku-Tafara
MDC (Tsv) 7 677
ZANU PF 1 901
Indep 543
Indep 261
UPP 93
Mutoko South
ZANU PF 10 795
MDC (Tsv) 2 897
MDC (Mut) 762
UPP 200
Highfield West
MDC (Tsv) 7 532
ZANU PF 1 328
MDC (Mut) 907
ZPPDP 74
Murehwa South
ZANU PF 9 032
MDC (Tsv) 3 410
UPP 287
Kuwadzana East
MDC (Tsv) 8 381
ZANU PF 1 388
Indep 150
UPP 85
Masvingo South
ZANU PF 6 365
MDC 3 707
Indep 500
Mt Pleasant
MDC (Tsv) 3 875
ZANU PF 1 738
MDC (Mut) 1 426
ZCDP 152
Harare South
ZANU PF 7 111
MDC (Tsv) 4 389
MDC (Mut) 819
Sunningdale
MDC (Tsv) 7 071
ZANU PF 980
MDC (Mut) 834
ZANU PF 634
UPP 87
VP 63
Hwedza North
ZANU PF 6 267
MDC (Tsv) 3 586
Makoni Central
MDC (Tsv) 7 060
ZANU PF 4 055
Indep 1 305
Uzumba
ZANU PF 13 396
MDC (Tsv) 2 156
MDC (Mut) 814
Hatfield
MDC (Tsv) 9 575
ZANU PF 1 450
Indep 589
ZDP 54
Indep 0

Marondera East

ZANU PF 6 514
MDC (Tsv) 2 268
MDC (Mut) 788
Indep 201

Chipinge East

MDC (Tsv) 7 038
ZANU PF 4 131

Marondera West

ZANU PF 4 284
MDC (Tsv) 2 132
Indep 1520

Chegutu West

MDC Tsv 6772
ZANU PF 3 713
MDC – Mut 750

Goromonzi West

MDC Tsv 5 931
ZANU PF 6 193

Mutoko North

ZANU PF 6 922
MDC Tsv 3163
Indep 3023
MDC Tsv 1065

Mutasa South

MDC Tsv 8 207
ZANU PF 3 409
Indep 412

Mutare Central

MDC Tsv 7 284
ZANU PF 2 322
MDC Mut 639
Indep 117
ZPPDP 21

Chipinge Central

ZANU PF 6 377
MDC Tsv 5 862

Latest Election Results

2008-03-31T00:04:00.001-07:00

Chegutu West

MDC (Tsv) 6772
ZANU PF 3 713
MDC (Mut) 750

Goromonzi West

MDC (Tsv) 5 931
ZANU (PF) 6 193

Mutoko North

ZANU PF 6 922
MDC (Tsv) 3163
Indep 3023
MDC (Mut) 1065

Mutasa South

MDC Tsv 8 207
ZANU PF 3 409
Indep 412

Mutare Central

MDC (Tsv) 7 284
ZANU PF 2 322
MDC Mut 639
Indep 117
ZPPDP 21

Chipinge Central

ZANU PF 6 377
MDC (Tsv) 5 862

please visit this blog for more results as we get them.

MDC takes early lead, Chinamasa out!

2008-03-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Information reaching Zimscoop suggests Morgan Tsvangirai is leading the pack in votes counted so far. Mugabe is second while Simba Makoni is a distant third. The MDC led by Tsvangirai has also won several seats in Harare and Bulawayo but we dont have the figures at the moment. Zimscoop will publish the full results as they come.

So far:

Patrick Chinamasa out

Job Sikhala out - lost to Marvellous Khumalo of the Tsvangirai faction

Information reaching us also says WEelshman Ncube is trailing behind Thokozani Khupe of the Tsvangirai faction

Elliott Manyika reportedly arrested in Bindura for violence.

please keep checking this blog, we will be giving yoiu updates as we get official results from the national command centre in Harare

MDC defies Chihuri

2008-03-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

HARARE- The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has defied the state saying it will announce the results of the ongoing elections “as they come”.

The party’s secretary general Tendai Biti told journalists this afternoon tha
t it was not unlawful for political parties to announce the results of the polls.

“There is nothing wrong for anyone to announce the election results”, said Biti. “What would be wrong would be to announce incorrect figures and I would want to challenge anyone to question us if we release incorrect figures”.

Biti’s remarks come a day after the Commissioner General of the Police, Augustine Chihuri, had decreed that no party would be allowed to announce the poll outcome. Chihuri said the results were only going to be made public by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Meanwhile, Biti said his party had unearthed elements of vote- rigging in the ongoing synchronized presidential and legislative polls.

Biti claimed there were a lot of assisted voters in several parts of the country while hundreds of people have since been turned away because “they are said to be alien”.

The opposition official also alleged that his political formation had received a report from independent parliamentary candidate aligned to former finance minister Simba Makoni’s project, Ibbo Mandaza, that six boxes containing postal ballots had been discovered in Mazowe.
The Zimbabwe Guardian had yet to verify these claims at the time of going to press.

MDC Polling Agents Barred From Polling Stations

2008-03-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Opposition polling agents have reportedly been denied access to voting stations in Bikita West constituency amid reports that the anti-riot police squad has been deployed and allegedly victimizing suspected opposition voters.

This follows the arrests of 10 activists in the area yesterday. Reports suggest that one of the activists, Simba Chivasa suffered a fractured leg after he was allegedly assaulted in custody at Bikita Office Police Station.

“The riot police stationed in Bikita are reported to have been deployed from Masvingo, leading to their arbitrary threats on the polling officers”, according the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. “The polling agents had to flea for their dear life, deserting the polling stations”.

At the time of going to Press, the agents had not returned to their polling stations while voters continued to cast their ballots.

The coalition said the denying opposition polling agents access to polling stations was clear evidence that President Robert Mugabe’s administration was “determined to manipulate the already flowed process in its favour”.

Gospel musician Elias Musakwa of Zanu PF is contesting the Bikita West constituency seat against Heya Shoko of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Mugabe is also contesting the presidency against his former finance minister Simba Makoni and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the main opposition MDC. Little-known Langton Towungana is also vying for the country’s top job

In Harare, meanwhile, some potential voters decided not to join the polling queues but were instead queuing for basic commodities such as bread and sugar.

Harare, like many urban areas, is believed to be an opposition stronghold.

Some polling stations in Highfields – the ceremonial home of people power – opened some minutes late while some voters said the had joined the queues as early as 0400 hours. Others complained that the voting process was slow with polling officials saying this was because they only had one voters’ roll at every polling station.

It was taking about two minutes per voter to cast four ballots.

Zimbabweans today are electing councillors, members of the House of Assembly, the Senate as well as the president.

Mugabe has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.

ELECTION WATCH: SMS Mockery For Mugabe

2008-03-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Zimbabweans are using the Short Message Service (SMS) to mock the longest serving President in Africa, Robert Mugabe as the crisis-riddled country began one-day polls to elect a new head of state, senators, parliamentarians and councilors.

Despite the high cost of sending text messages, Zimbabwean people are sending each other various messages depicting Mugabe as an opposition after April 1.

One of the messages read: “News Headline on 1 April 2008 – Mugabe has begun his new life as the leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition. The 84 year-old former president has vowed to fight back into office in elections due 2013”.

Another message read: “Do you know of anyone offering four bakkies for hire? Someone offering huge sums in US dollars wants to hire the trucks to relocate from State House to Zvimba”

Zvimba is Mugabe’s rural home.

A number of Zimbabweans have in the past been arrested and charged under the Criminal Law and Codification Reforms Act for insulting the person of the presidency.

Eyes on Lusaka Summit

2007-08-16T02:22:00.000-07:00

I am in Johannesburg, South Africa. All eyes and ears are on Lusaka, Zambia. What's there? Nothing but the SADC Summit. What will come out of it? Is it the same old story where Southern Africa's bulldogs continue to give each other a pat on the back even if things are not so rosy in their countries, like the situation in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe?

What will Mbeki tell the SADC leaders on the situation in Zimbabwe? how far has he gone in terms of facilitating dialogue? What would be the reaction of the SADC leaders?

I hope the meeting is not gonna be a damp squib.

Lets wait see...its only a few hours away... I hope to get feedback from a colleague on the ground

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slip Sliding Away

2007-08-16T01:57:00.000-07:00

I am not dead yet.

I am on vacation....but I will be dead one day

Zacras born

2007-07-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Frank Chikowore

Community radio initiatives in Zimbabwe formed an umbrella organization called the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) on Saturday.
ZACRAS will represent the interests of community radio stations at national level. The organization will also push for community radio stations to be given licenses by the government as required under the Broadcasting Services Act.
Since the promulgation of the Act, no single community radio station was granted a broadcasting license leaving the state-controlled public broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, to enjoy monopoly of the airwaves.
Radio Dialogue submmitted its application to the regulatory authority but it has since been turned without reason.
The private owned Capitol Radio was banned while Radio Voice Of the People had its equipment confiscated by the state for allegedly operating without a license forcing the station to relocate to South Africa.

BBC's Alan Johnston freed

2007-07-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released by kidnappers in the Gaza Strip after 114 days in captivity.

Mr Johnston, 45, was handed over to armed men in Gaza City. He said his ordeal was like "being buried alive" but it was "fantastic" to be free.

And he described how he had been unable to see the sun for three months, and had once been chained for 24 hours.

Rallies worldwide had called for Mr Johnston's release. An online petition was signed by some 200,000 people.

Mr Johnston's father Graham said he and his wife were "overjoyed" at their son's release.

"It's been 114 days of a living nightmare," he said.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledged the "crucial" role played by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in securing Mr Johnston's release.

But a spokesman for Mr Brown said Britain's policy towards Hamas had not changed, and the movement was still expected to recognise Israel and show a commitment to non violence.

I literally dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room
Alan Johnston

Hamas role in release
Johnston describes ordeal

The BBC reporter was handed over to officials of Hamas, which controls Gaza, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

He later appeared beside Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, and thanked everyone who had worked for his release. Mr Johnston is now at the British Consulate in Jerusalem but is not expected to fly home on Wednesday.

Hamas gunmen overran Gaza last month, expelling their rivals from the Fatah faction and prompting its leader, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to sack Mr Haniya as prime minister.

Mr Haniya said the result "confirms [Hamas] is serious in imposing security and stability and maintaining law and order in this very dear part of our homeland".

He also said he hoped a deal could now be reached for the release of the Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since being seized in a border raid by three militant groups a year ago.

'Dreamt of freedom'

At the news conference, Mr Johnston thanked everyone who had worked towards his release.

He described his experience of captivity as "appalling" and "occasionally quite terrifying".

"It became quite hard to imagine normal life again," he said.

"The last 16 weeks have been the very worst of my life," he added. "I was in the hands of people who were dangerous and unpredictable.

"I literally dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room."

Mr Johnston said he was not tortured during captivity but he did fall ill from the food he was served.

He added that he had been kept in four different locations, two of them only briefly.

He was able to see the sun in the first month but was then kept in a shuttered room until a week before his release, he said.

Mr Johnston was kept in chains for 24 hours but was not harmed physically until the last half hour of his captivity, when his captors hit him "a bit".

Jon's comments in full

He said Hamas's seizure of power in Gaza and its subsequent pledge to improve security in the territory had facilitated his release.

"The kidnappers seemed very comfortable and very secure in their operation until... a few weeks ago, when Hamas took charge of the security operation here," Mr Johnston said.

He said that he was told he was going home on Tuesday night.

"I thought at first 'They are moving me again', and I thought maybe they're handing me on to new kidnappers but then as we got deeper and deeper into Gaza City, I really began at last to believe that maybe we were finishing it," he said.

Radio contact

Mr Johnston was abducted on 12 March by the Army of Islam, a shadowy militant group dominated by Gaza's powerful Dugmush clan.

Just over a month after his capture, it was announced that he had been killed to send a "message" to the Palestinian authorities.

The group released three videos, two of which featured footage of the kidnapped correspondent.

It said it would kill its captive if its demands for the release of Muslim prisoners in British custody were not met.

But Mr Johnston said his abductors had also offered him freedom in exchange for making one of the videos.

Having worked in Gaza for the past three years, Mr Johnston said he was well aware of Palestinian traditions of hospitality and regarded his abductors as an "aberration".

He said he was looking forward to being re-united with his family, expressing sorrow that his "actions" had brought turmoil to their lives.

BBC colleagues have been celebrating the release

He had a brief conversation with his father over the telephone after being released.

Mr Johnston said he stayed aware of efforts to free him by listening to the BBC World Service on the radio.

News of global demonstrations in his support was a source of comfort to him, he said.

"There were demonstrations from Beijing to Buenos Aires, Beirut to London to Washington and you know I could feel how much the Palestinian people were feeling that this wasn't right and how much support there was for an end to my captivity," he said.

The BBC has issued a statement expressing relief and delight at its employee's release.

Zimbabwe has biggest number of journalists in exile

2007-06-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

HARARE - Zimbabwe currently tops the list of countries that have forced the largest number of journalists into exile, according to a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The report released last week showed that 48 Zimbabwean journalists had escaped persecution by the government between July 2001 and this month.

This accounts for about 20 percent of the total global number of scribes forced to flee their countries in the past six years.

"The 243 journalists surveyed by CPJ came from 36 countries, with more than half hailing from just five: Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Colombia, and Uzbekistan," explained the CPJ report.

Sixty percent were from African countries, where porous borders and harsh press freedom conditions contributed to a steady exodus of journalists.

The main destination countries for the exiled Zimbabwean scribes were Botswana, Canada, Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Zambia.

Other countries cited in the CPJ report as having a large number of journalists in exile were Haiti, Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Gambia and Iran.

Most of the journalists cited death threats, likelihood of imprisonment and harassment as reasons for escaping from their countries.

Zimbabwe has some of the toughest media laws in the world. For example, the government’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act requires journalists to obtain licences from the government’s Media and Information Commission in order to practise in Zimbabwe.

The commission can withdraw licences from journalists who fail to conform. Journalists caught practising without a licence are reliable to a two-year jail term under AIPPA.

Besides journalists being required to obtain licences, newspaper companies are also required to register with the state commission with those failing to do so facing closure and seizure of their equipment by the police.

The Public Order and Security Act imposes up to two years in jail on journalists found guilty of publishing falsehoods that may cause public alarm and despondency, while another law, the Criminal Codification Act, imposes up to 20 years in jail on journalists convicted of denigrating President Robert Mugabe in their articles.

At least four independent newspapers including the country’s biggest circulating daily, The Daily News, were shut down over the past four years for breaching government media laws. Close to 100 journalists were also arrested by the police over the same period. - ZimOnline

Please Release Alan Johnston!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

Herald reporter held over bribery allegations

2007-06-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

ZIMBABWEAN police on Friday arrested a state media journalist from the Herald newspaper over allegations that he demanded a bribe.

Sources at Herald House said officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) burst into the newsroom and arrested Brena Chigonga for demanding bribes from evangelists, a Mathias and one Mildred Madzivanzira of the Mathis and Mildred Ministries who have been accused of running a Satanist cult.

On February 10 this year, the Herald carried a report by a gossip columnist, revealing that Madzivanzira had shot dead his maid after she stumbled on "juju" at his home.

The gossip columnist claimed: “Two weeks ago, a rumour doing the rounds in Harare was that the man of the cloth had fatally shot his maid at his Ruwa home. The reason? She had allegedly discovered juju in one of the rooms at the churchman’s luxurious home.

"The juju, it was claimed, was meant to enhance his business empire and generate more money for him.To stop the maid from spilling the beans, the rumour mill said, Madzivanzira shot her in cold blood, leading to his arrest.

"According to the gossipers, Madzivanzira’s vast wealth is linked to Satanism, a religious belief centred on the worship of the devil.”

The report, however, went on to say it had been proved that the couple were not Satanists.

Sources said Chigonga had asked to be paid to do "damage limitation", leading to a police complaint being lodged.

No immediate comment could be obtained from the Herald. Pikirayi Deketeke, the editor, was said to be out of his office on Friday evening. www.newzimbabwe.com

New Zim council is new front in fight for free media

2007-06-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

By Rashweat Mukundu

The newly established Media Council of Zimbabwe, established in the teeth of opposition from the government, represents an attempt by the media to take charge of the nessary agenda of transformation.

The launch of the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ) on 8 June 2007 spurred the struggle for media freedom in Zimbabwe to a new height where the media itself should be in the driving seat.

My optimism might easily be dismissed as naïve, coming as it does against the backdrop of the relentless repression against the media and the citizens' right to freedom of expression.

That optimism is, however, based on the belief that the agents of change are the oppressed themselves and not the oppressors. The MCZ, in other words, marks the resurrection of the repressed.

The MCZ is described in different terms depending on the side one belongs to. Simply put, it is a move by the media to take charge of its own affairs, to boldly say to society we can be accountable and that media workers can contribute to the development of the media without the chains imposed by laws such as AIPPA.

The Zimbabwe media, be it private or state-owned, has been at the receiving end of repression resulting in the closure of four independent newspapers under a repressive regime of state regulation and other extra-judicial means. The state media is persistently purged of dissenting voices and has been made a shameful mouthpiece of the ruling elite.

Having the media take the initiative through processes such as the MCZ is a way of practically seeking media transformation, accountability and responsibility. The MCZ will not, under the present circumstances, result in the licensing of the Daily News, The Tribune or the Weekly Times, but is in fact, opening a new front in dismantling the repressive media law regime currently suffocating media development in Zimbabwe. It might as well be true that some banned newspapers might be gone for good but the struggle by those still operating and those banned should set a firm and secure platform for those that will emerge in the future.

Taking the drivers seat in this case, is thus embarking on a long journey of seeking and acting to influence change, for ourselves and posterity by retaining the public's confidence in the media. The MCZ presents a chance for media workers to unite on a common idea and broaden the struggle for change with the support and involvement of the citizenry who are set to benefit and use the MCZ as an amicable platform for conflict resolution.

The mere existence of the MCZ is a statement that the media is part of society and that for the media to exist it needs two distinct groups:
the public and the publishers/media organisation(s). For the MCZ to work it needs public support because the basis of its formation is to enhance interaction with the public and amicable resolution of disputes in a non litigation manner as opposed to what we have witnessed under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Under the current media laws, the media are bombed and intimidated notwithstanding the numerous arrests of journalists. It must be emphasised that a critical missing component in the protection of the media in Zimbabwe has been lack of public support for media diversity. The closure of newspapers has thus not only deprived the public access to alternative information but subjected the population to fatal doses of government propaganda that serves no public interest agenda.

The MCZ, it is argued, brings the two together for a common cause on the premise that the media belongs to the people and not to the ruling elite or the Stalinist Ministry of Information and Publicity which spends taxpayers' money making phone calls to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) directing how stories are to be covered. The same ministry argues that AIPPA is a law that defends “national interests”, an obvious confusion and failure to distinguish national interests from partisan selfish interests.

If the media belongs to the people and media owners in their various and diverse forms are using the public space to spread information and honestly make a living, then it follows that the same media should be responsible and accountable to the public. The MCZ then becomes the platform for public and media interaction away from the dictates of policy makers who have totally divergent interests with regard to the media with those of both the media itself and the public.

The vociferous defense of AIPPA as a necessary piece of legislation by the Ministry of Information and Publicity will not abate anytime soon nor should we be foolish to expect the policy dinosaurs in that Ministry to change. Change will, however, come and it will come through struggle and on our own terms. The Ministry of Information will not change because it cannot. Its political life and that of its masters depend on repressive laws like AIPPA.

The MCZ is therefore a tool to fight bad policy. By its very nature
the MCZ cannot work with the state-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) - it cannot co-operate with AIPPA because the MCZ is an antithesis of statutory regulation. The MCZ might fail to get the full co-operation of all media players, which is sad, but nevertheless expected because the dominant media is in the hands and control of the policy dinosaurs. What has to be stated for certain though is that the MCZ is not going to simply fade away because some 'powerful' permanent secretary, pseudo intellectuals and soldiers running this Ministry dislike the idea.

The same people who pride themselves with crafting AIPPA, shutting down newspapers and causing the near decimation of the privately owned media in Zimbabwe are still caught up in the Stalinist era with regard to the role of the media.

The media policy dinosaurs within the Ministry of Information and Publicity have no tangible or sensible reason to oppose the MCZ other than that it is not their own initiative and secondly, it is a threat to their stranglehold on the media and the abuse they pile week in and week out on innocent citizens in civil society, the opposition, and private media, abusing publications including The Herald and Sunday Mail.

What has obviously escaped these policy dinosaurs is the movement that has taken place with regard to media the world over. These movements include the diversification of channels of media content distribution, demystification of the media as a newsroom or physical entity that can be shut, threatened, confiscated and regulated. New technologies the world over enable wider participation in information creation, dissemination and consumption. This means that media regulation has to take into account the opening up of media space to as many people as possible, whether through personal websites, blogs, and other online publications.

Participation in information dissemination is no longer the responsibility of a few through regulated media houses, but anyone can do so freely - anyone can sell and disseminate information. Media policy in Zimbabwe should look at the benefits of these new technologies in social and economic development. Media policy can, therefore, not be developed and administered ruthlessly by a paranoid system that looks at the media as an enemy and sees and confuses its selfish interests with national interests.

The MCZ is a statement to say that true national interests are protected by broader participation and involvement and not through exclusion, repression and persecution.

* Rashweat Mukundu is the National Director of MISA-Zimbabwe. This article was first published by www.journalism.co.za

Media Council Launched In Harare

2007-06-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

Journalists gathered in Harare yesterday to launch the first-ever voluntary media council in Zimbabwe.
The body, known as the Media Council of Zimbabwe, seeks to regulate journalists and media houses on a voluntary basis.
The council will in the long term replace the government appointed Media and Information Commission which has shut four independent newspapers since the promulgation of the Access to Infomation and Protection of Privacy Act in March 2002. A number of journalists have been arrested and charged for violations of the draconian law.
The launch of the MCZ marked an important milestone in the defence and promotion of media freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe media repression comes under attack at WAN Congress

2007-06-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

By Frank Chikowore

CAPE TOWN - The World Association of Newspapers (WAN), which is holding its 60th World Newspaper Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, has condemned President Robert Mugabe's “repressive government policy against a free press in Zimbabwe” urging his administration to stop interfering with the operations of the country’s media.

WAN's call came as Gift Phiri, the chief correspondent of a London-based weekly, The Zimbabwean – which is circulated in Zimbabwe - was being arraigned before a Harare magistrate on Monday on charges of violating sections of the country's draconian media law, AIPPA.

Phiri, who was charged for practising journalism without accreditation as required under AIPPA and publishing falsehoods, is expected to stand trial on July 9 at the Harare Magistrates Court.

Phiri alleges that he was tortured while in police custody when he was arrested in April.

Zimbabwe is ranked by the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the worst countries in the world for journalists to operate in.

“The recurrent violations of journalists’ basic rights and the complete disregard for the rule of law of the Zimbabwean leadership and law enforcement agencies are unacceptable,” the WAN Board said in a resolution here during the Congress which is running concurrently with the World Editors' Forum.

WAN is also expressed concern at the recent arrest and assault of lawyers in Harare. The Association said it was alarmed by the recent assaults against human rights lawyers representing journalists in court.

Law Society of Zimbabwe president, Beatrice Mtetwa was among a group of top lawyers assaulted by the Zimbabwe police when the legal practitioners had gathered for a scheduled demonstration outside the High Court in Harare.

“WAN is appalled by the 29 March abduction and murder of former Zimbabwe state broadcaster ZBC cameraman Edward Chikombo, whose killing might be related to the leaking of footage of police brutality against opposition activists earlier that month.

WAN also condemned recent threats of reprisal made by the Ministry of Information to foreign correspondents over what the department claimed to be fabricated stories.

“In its policy to suppress press freedom and to asphyxiate the very last private media, the government is assisted by the Media Information Commission (MIC), which disrupts independent newspapers and strips journalists from their accreditation" said the resolution.

“In this context, WAN wishes to praise the rulings regularly made by Zimbabwean courts, including the Harare High Court, to quash abusive MIC decisions”.

The Board of WAN called on President Mugabe's government to firmly commit to the rule of law.

WAN, which is based in the French capital, Paris, is a global organisation for the newspaper industry, which defends and promotes press freedom world-wide.

WAN represents 18,000 newspapers while its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.

Its 2008 or never for MDC

2007-05-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

By Anonymous

Arthur Mutambara and Morgan Tsvangirai should set aside their differences and concentrate on real issues affecting ordinary Zimbabweans if their credibility in the Zimbabean political stage is anything to go by.
Ordinary Zimbabweans from Dotito to Esigodini are searing in the flames of whithering injustice at the expense of the sitting government which is showing no remorse in the suffering of the country's Jack and Jill.
Leaders like Mutambara and Tsvangirai should stand up for the people they purport to represent and this can only be done in the pending elections in 2008. Their threat to boycott the (harmonized) presidential and parliamentary elections due next year shows that these two are fighting for their own selfish interests. At a tinme when inflation is hovering around 3 700 percent - more than Iraq that is at war - arthur and Morgan should go back to the drawing board.
the only hope for Zimbaweans is for the two to participate in the elections. All they need to do is to agree on who will stand against President Mugabe.
Several journalists have seized to function, for example Nunurai Jenawho had his name struck off the Media and Information Commission's roll of journalists.
Political parties and civic groups cannot hold rallies freely. The state continues to use the fascist Public order and Security Act as well as the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to curtail people's freedoms enshrined in the tattered Constitution of Zimbabwe.
It is only participation in the 2008 polls that will take the people out of the mayhem.

This article was written by a Zimbabwean who requested anonymity

NewZimbabwe.com to print

2007-05-23T02:55:00.000-07:00

NEW Zimbabwe Limited, publishers of New Zimbabwe.com, has announced the imminent arrival of a print edition of the website to be published weekly, starting in early July.

In a statement this week, the company also announced the formation of a separate company, known as New Zimbabwe Media Limited which will publish the print newspaper, to be known as The New Zimbabwe.

A limited distribution dummy edition of the newspaper was published early May.

New Zimbabwe.com editor, Mduduzi Mathuthu said: “It has been a long held ambition to venture into print publishing. This couldn’t come early enough.”

Mathuthu is a director of New Zimbabwe Media, alongside Jeff Madzingo, currently boss of Destiny Financial Services Limited.

New Zimbabwe.com went online in June 2003, and was the first commercial Zimbabwean news website. With an average 500 000 hits per day, the website has grown to command the biggest market share after toppling the state-run Herald newspaper in late 2005, according to the web traffic site, Alexa.com.

Mathuthu said: “New Zimbabwe.com has been an emotionally and physically draining adventure, but everyone who works or contributes to the site has worked their socks off in an honest fashion.

“Where others have been cushioned by funding by wealthy foreign organisations and governments, we have had to scrap using very limited resources. It is true that God rewards honest effort, because New Zimbabwe.com’s continued success is living proof of that.”

Mathuthu paid tribute to New Zimbabwe.com readers and advertisers, calling their support “humbling”.

He said: “As a natural progression, we have reached that stage where we need to explore opportunities in the print industry. The growth of Zimbabwean companies in the Diaspora affords us a unique opportunity to reach out to them and deliver their products and services to their target market in a way that was previously never imagined.

“We want to be part of the development of Zimbabwean businesses in the Diaspora, and the professional advance of Zimbabweans in every step of the way. The paper will celebrate the success of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, and raise the profiles of our new heroes and heroines. That’s what New Zimbabwe is all about, raising hope from the decaying politics of our current rulers.”

New Zimbabwe will be published and distributed right across the United Kingdom. Mathuthu said there were no immediate plans to publish the paper in Zimbabwe, although limited copies would be made available to subscribers. Publishing in Zimbabwe, he said, was not commercially viable under the current economic climate.

“The situation will be constantly under review, and hopefully, we will get it to Zimbabwe one day. Zimbabwe is ultimately where the dawn of the New Zimbabwe will crack, and we want to be part of that process.”

The first edition of the paper will be rolled out on Thursday, July 7. The paper will be mainly free, although it could be sold in some areas, Mathuthu said.

New Zimbabwe.com will continue publishing as normal, with separate content from the paper which will have a separate editorial team and editor, the company said. An announcement will be made on the paper’s editor shortly.

"We will be a proper red top tabloid, with a lot of celebrity, human interest, business and sports stories and a sprinkling of political stuff. We will focus mainly on Southern Africans based in the UK. South Africans and Zimbabweans will get special attention," Mathuthu said.

The launch ceremony would be announced in due course, said Mathuthu. - www.newzimbabwe.com

Zim Journalists To Launch Voluntary Media Council

2007-05-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwean journalists will next Tuesday finally launch the Voluntary Media Council (VMC) that had been deferred twice this year, www.zimonline.co.za has reported.

Abigail Gamanya, the co-ordinator of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) an association of media groups pushing for the setting up of the council, said the launch will go ahead next week with or without government approval.

“We are going ahead with the launch of the council on 29 May and everything is so far according to plan. So come Tuesday, the council will be in place as we do not need government approval to launch this council,” Gamanya told the online paper.

Gamanya said the media council, just like the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), did not need a government statute to enable it to be set up since it was a voluntary council.

“The media council is a voluntary council and we do not need government approval for launching a voluntary body for journalists,” she said.

The MAZ groups together media organizations operating in Zimbabwe. Among some of these are the ZUJ, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe and the Federation of African Media Women of Zimbabwe.

MAZ said it had so far received 30 names of individuals who have been recommended by media organizations to sit on the 12-member board to be elected into office next Tuesday.

Among some of the individuals that have been recommended are retired judges, George Smith and Justice Ibrahim, publishers Raphael Khumalo (Zimbabwe Independent) and Jacob Chisese (Financial Gazette), Justin Mutasa (Zimpapers), Father Nigel Johnson, lawyer Sindiso Mazibisa and media lecturer Lawton Hikwa.

Zimbabwe does not have a voluntary media council but has a statutory body, the Media and Information Commission, that was set up by the government under the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The MIC has banned four newspapers including the biggest selling Daily News, over the past four years. Prresident Robert Mugabe's government's government stands accused of masterminding the bombing of the Daily News printing press and the offices of the Voice of the People (VoP) private radio station. VoP has since switched base to Capr Town, South Africa. - ZimOnline and additional reporting by Zimscoop

Zim reporter gets 'taste of state medicine'

2007-05-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

A reporter with one of Zimbabwe's official newspapers got "a taste of state medicine" last week when police angrily confiscated his camera and press card after a Cabinet minister accused him of spreading falsehoods, it was reported on Friday.

Samuel Kadungure, a reporter with the state-controlled Manica Post weekly, was covering a tour of a diamond-mining area in Chiadzwa, eastern Zimbabwe, last Thursday.

He was in the company of National Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, said the Manica Post, which is based in the border city of Mutare.

"When Mutasa introduced the reporter to Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi, all hell broke loose," Kadungure said.

In an unusual show of discord between senior government ministers, Midzi accused the reporter of gate-crashing a protected zone. He told police to seize Kadungure's state-issued press card and camera, the reporter claimed.

Zimbabwe is a notoriously difficult place for reporters to work in, unless they are employed by the state-controlled media.

Reporters for official radio and newspapers are normally able to work without harassment.

Reporters for the independent press are frequently arrested under Zimbabwe’s tough press law, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which stipulates that all media workers must hold a valid licence.

Licences are rarely issued to those working for the independent press.

The clampdown on the private press has steadily worsened in the last two months, with at least four reporters beaten, a Time magazine correspondent from Britain arrested and forced to leave the country and an ageing local cameraman abducted and killed.

Kadungure was rescued by a senior police officer, according to the Manica Post. His equipment and press card were only returned a day later. The reporter described the altercation as "sad." -- Sapa-dpa

IPI calls on South Africa to ensure Zimbabwean government properly investigates journalist’s murder

2007-05-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe is an IPI Watch List Country

PRESS RELEASE

Vienna, 17 April 2007

IPI Calls on South Africa to Ensure Zimbabwean Government Properly
Investigates Journalist’s Murder

On 31 March, the body of Edward Chikombo, a part-time cameraman for the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was discovered close to the
village of Darwendale, outside the capital Harare.

Armed men had apparently taken Chikombo from his home in Glenview Township
on 29 March.

According to information provided to the International Press Institute
(IPI), the journalist may have been murdered because of his suspected
involvement in providing foreign news services with footage of opposition
members being attacked by the security services during recent strikes.

On 11 March, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), was badly beaten by the security forces. Pictures of his
injuries were later shown on the BBC and CNN.

In recent weeks, there have been rumours that the Zimbabwean government is
employing so-called “hit squads” to carry out abductions and beatings of
opposition members and their supporters.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has also issued statements about the
right of the security services to attack people and these statements have
fuelled an aggressive and violent environment, particularly in Harare.

Chikombo’s murder was not the only serious press freedom violation to occur
recently. On 11 March, photojournalist Tsvangirai Mukwazhi was seriously
assaulted while in police custody, and Gift Phiri, chief reporter for The
Zimbabwean, was apparently tortured on 1 April.

Commenting on Zimbabwe, IPI Director, Johann P. Fritz said, “These brutal
attacks on journalists are a sign of the extraordinary lengths that the
government will go to hide the true state of affairs in Zimbabwe.”

“Given its important role in Southern African affairs and its influence
over Zimbabwe, I would call on the South African government to issue a
strongly worded statement reminding the Zimbabwean government of its duty
to uphold the rule of law and urging it to carry out an open and
transparent investigation into the death of Chikombo, and the assaults on
Mukwazhi and Phiri.”

“In doing so, I would remind the South African government that assaults and
murders of journalists are often an indication that other serious human
rights breaches may be occurring or are about to occur.”

“For this reason, the time to act on Zimbabwe is now and there are real
risks that a failure to do so will only exacerbate the current situation
and further encourage the Zimbabwean government to believe that it can
suppress the work of journalists and commit human rights violations with
impunity,” added Fritz.
_______________________________________
International Press Institute (IPI)
Spiegelgasse 2
1010 Vienna, AUSTRIA
Tel: (+43 1) 512 90 11
Fax: (+43 1) 512 90 14
E-mail: ipi@freemedia.at
http://www.freemedia.at

IPI, the global network of editors, media executives and leading
journalists, is dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press
freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion
of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the
practices of journalism.

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole
responsibility of IPI**

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