Former employees of three independent Zimbabwean newspapers shut down by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) are struggling to make ends meet.
The Supreme Court ruled in September that Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday, was operating illegally because it was not registered with the Commission as stipulated by the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Another independent newspaper, the Tribune, which came into being after the Business Tribune and Weekend Tribune merged, was shut down in June 2004 when the MIC suspended the paper’s licence to operate because its owners had failed to notify the Commission of a change in ownership.
”The situation of journalists and other members of staff who were affected by the closure of the papers is pathetic. We have established that a substantial number of them are living in near destitution,” said the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists’ president, Matthew Takaona.
He said the union had found many married journalists from the Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday had fallen victim to stress-related illnesses because they were failing to cope with being unemployed.
”What makes the situation even more tragic is that they do not have money to seek medical attention, since they are no longer on medical aid. The issue of income can never be over-emphasised because once they fall ill, they cannot afford to sustain themselves on a good diet because, again, they cannot afford it,” said Takaona.
”In some cases the children of these people [the affected staff] have had to drop out of school or have been sent to poor schools in rural areas,” he added. Takaona said some of the journalists had moved to neighbouring countries in search of employment.
Stephen Chaka (not his real name), a former Daily News reporter, earned Z$200 000 ($37) a month before the paper closed — now he is unemployed and depends on financial benefits accrued while he was working, but the payments are irregular.
”Over the last three months I did not receive anything,” said Chaka. His wife is pregnant and he has had to turn to his brother, who is employed as a teacher, to meet her medical needs.
”My brother has been helpful but it is humiliating for me, as my primary responsibility is to look after my own wife, who unfortunately is not employed. I shudder to think how I will cope when she delivers in about two months’ time,” he said.
Takaona, who was fired from the government-controlled Sunday Mail for addressing staff members of the Daily News and its sister paper after the publications were closed down, claimed that more journalists from the state media had fallen foul of the government’s ”systematic victimisation of those it perceives to be enemies or potential threats”.
Zimbabwean government spokesperson Edward Mamutse refuted the allegation, saying, ”There is always a lot of movement in the media circle — journalists are at liberty to resign from their positions for opportunities elsewhere. How can we be held responsible for their decision to leave?”
A University of Zimbabwe media lecturer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the MIC and the government should have found an amicable way of dealing with the problems at the three newspapers.
”Many people will be forgiven for thinking that the shutting down of the newspapers was political, considering how critical of the government they were,” he said.
According to an annual survey by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Zimbabwe is allegedly the most repressive country in Southern Africa in terms of media freedom. Last year media freedom alerts originating from Zimbabwe represented 54% of the total recorded by MISA in 10 countries. — Irin