The Zimbabwean government this week stepped up efforts to crack down on the Mail & Guardian. The police served a subpoena on the security manager of Century Bank in Harare summonsing information about the newspaper’s bank account, including records of cheque transactions, since the beginning of the year.
The subpoena was obtained from a magistrate’s court on the basis that there is reasonable grounds to suspect the M&G was violating the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Act by externalising foreign currency.
The Reserve Bank, in a statement on Wednesday, said it was not aware of any investigation and had no reason to suspect the M&G was in breach of the RBZ Act.
“From our records and pending cases, the RBZ has not had any reason or cause to investigate the M&G for the alleged misdemeanours. Maybe the police can shed more light on this issue,” said the bank.
M&G CE Trevor Ncube slated the latest move on the paper as “a fishing expedition and an invasion of privacy under the pretext of investigating externalisation of foreign currency. As a law-abiding corporate citizen in the countries where we operate we welcome any scrutiny from the authorities.”
Century Bank officials declined to disclose details of the police visit, citing “confidentiality agreements with clients”. Sources at the bank, however, told our sister paper, the Zimbabwe Independent, that two officers from the Commercial Intelligence Unit “took bank statements dating back to January and a document advising the addition of Raphael Khumalo [Zimbabwe Independent group GM] as a signatory to the account”.
Ncube believes the latest incident “is a pretext for action against the M&G in Zimbabwe. It has become obvious over the past few weeks that certain people in government have become uncomfortable with our coverage. Since they are unable to find fault with the paper’s reporting the intention now is to find something, anything in fact, to give them reason to stop the Zimbabwean public from reading the M&G.”
Last month the state-controlled The Sunday Mail — usually a mirror of the government’s views — published a story accusing the M&G of using “unaccredited journalists” and questioned why the paper was being circulated in Zimbabwe.
This attack was backed by the chairperson of Zimbabwe’s Media and Information Commission — a quasi-judicial body — Tafataona Mahoso, who claimed the M&G was violating the Access to information and Protection of Privacy Act. Under the Act it is an offence for a journalist to practise in Zimbabwe without a licence.
These attacks come in the wake of visits to the M&G‘s couriers and distributors by the Zimbabwean authorities.
Ncube is, however, “confident the moves will fail to uncover any evidence of impropriety. This episode represents yet another attempt by the Zimbabwean authorities to curtail press freedom. As the regime feels increasingly cornered by its critics we can expect it to clamp down on the country’s remaining sources of independent information. The M&G is clearly the latest target.”
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