police
Mercedes Sayagues
As the rule of law continues to break down in Zimbabwe, the country’s law enforcement agencies have shown they are still on the beat – at least when it comes to protecting the public from pictures of naked men.
The editor and deputy-editor of the weekly The Independent have been summoned by police and may face charges of contravening the strict Censorship Act, a piece of colonial legislation.
The state is contending male genitalia in a wire service photograph may be “obscene material”. On March 3 the paper, a staunch critic of President Robert Mugabe, published a Reuter’s photograph of naked men rushing into a department store in Vienna, Austria, to win free clothes in a promotion.
The Independent’s deputy editor Iden Wetherell said this seek: “It is reassuring to see that police are again operational, after weeks of farm invasions where property is damaged and farmers threatened while police do nothing. Now they are back at work harassing the independent press.”
The Independent and its sister publication, The Standard, face three other court cases brought by the state.
In the most infamous, Standard editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto were illegally arrested and allegedly tortured by the military in 1998 for a story about a foiled coup.
Two weeks ago, a court case was brought against The Standard for a story alleging the draft Constitution had been printed long before constitutional hearings. The paper apologised and retracted the story and editor Andy Moyse resigned.
A statement by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) decries the recent wave of arrests and complaints against the independent press. The union urged the state to drop criminal charges against The Standard following its apology. “The state has a tendency to treat journalists as hardcore criminals,” says ZUJ secretary general Basildon Peta.
Last week, the government announced it will investigate the finances of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in connection with the labour-based opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Two obscure political parties took the National Constitutional Assembly to court for allegedly diverting donor money to the MDC. Both the MDC and assembly deny any wrongdoing.
Analysts see the hand of the Central Intelligence Organisation in this sudden flurry of legal action against the opposition. Legal hassles sap energy, time and money. It has long been a state tactic in Zimbabwe. In the run-up to parliamentary elections in April, the government is pulling all the dirty tricks from the book.
The Post and Telecommunications Bill, approved this week by a tiny number of MPs attending the session, allows the president to direct a license-holder to intercept any telecommunication on the vague grounds of national security.
“The Bill effectively allows the government to spy on every phone call, e- mail and telecommunication in the country,” says human rights activist Val Ingham- Thorpe.
In a statement, The Independent welcomed the chance to challenge the Censorship Act and denounced the move as an attempt to muzzle the press.
Add the state-sponsored wave of farm invasions – numbering over 500 – and politically inspired township violence, and the regime appears increasingly repressive as its electoral prospect wane.