The publisher and three news directors at Zimbabwe’s banned independent newspaper, The Daily News, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of publishing without a licence.
The four are facing charges under Zimbabwe’s tough media laws that oblige all news organisations and journalists to be registered by a state commission.
Daily News publisher Samuel Nkomo and directors Rachel Kupara, Michael Mattinson and Brian Mutsau appeared relaxed during the court appearance in Harare.
The charges stem from the decision by the newspaper bosses to resume publication of The Daily News in October, six weeks after the daily was shut down.
The comeback edition was published a day after a court ruled that the state media commission had erred by denying the paper a licence when it applied for one in September.
But the head of the media commission testified on Wednesday that the newspaper editors misinterpreted the court ruling and should have waited before restarting publication of the newspaper, a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe.
The court had ordered that The Daily News be granted a licence by November 30.
Resuming publication immediately was ”the accused’s interpretation” of the judgement, said Tafataona Mahoso, chairperson of the media commission.
”Following the judgment of the 24th of October 2003, it [the paper] should have waited until after the 30th of November,” he contended.
”In my understanding, the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe was publishing outside the law,” said Mahoso.
If convicted, the newspaper’s bosses could each be fined Z$300 000 (about US$56) or be sentenced to two years in prison.
The Daily News was founded in 1999 as an alternative to its main rivals — the state-run Herald and Chronicle dailies, which toe the official line. In February, The Daily News laid off 250 of its 300 full-time staff.
The outspoken newspaper’s woes started in September 2003 when the Supreme Court ruled that it was operating illegally and should register.
The following day, armed police raided the paper’s offices and printing presses and shut down the paper that had provided an alternative voice to the government-owned daily papers.
Several court rulings have ordered that the paper be allowed to publish again, but it has only sporadically appeared on news stands. The last edition came out on February 5, the day the Supreme Court upheld the law stipulating that all journalists in the country should be accredited with the media commission.
The trial of the four newspaper directors is to continue on Thursday.
The Supreme Court has yet to hand down a ruling on a constitutional challenge brought in March by the daily — accused by the government of being a front for Western and opposition interests — against the media laws.
Zimbabwe has the worst record on media freedom among the 10 countries of southern Africa, according to the Windhoek-based Media Institute of Southern Africa. – Sapa