Zimbabwe’s new information minister has indicated that the government will take a more tolerant approach to domestic and foreign media and consider protests at draconian controls imposed by his predecessor, Jonathan Moyo.
Tichaona Jokonya, appointed in a Cabinet reshuffle last week, told editors ”his ministry would work toward inculcating a culture of trust between all media houses and the government”, the state-controlled Herald reported on Saturday.
The Herald said Jokonya, a former ambassador to Ethiopia under Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, ”agreed there was need to exercise tolerance in applying the law”.
Moyo, who was expelled from the Cabinet and ruling party shortly before winning a parliamentary seat as an independent, introduced the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which imposes a two-year prison term for practising as a journalist or publishing a newspaper without a government license.
Three independent newspapers have been banned since its 2002 passage and more than 40 journalists arrested, although none has been convicted.
Jokonya’s new deputy, Bright Matonga, was quoted by The Herald as telling editors: ”The ministry would not be restricting the foreign media from reporting on Zimbabwe.”
Since 2002, six foreign correspondents have been expelled and many news organisations refused permission to send representatives.
The Herald said that at a meeting with editors on Friday, ”although there was general consensus on some of the virtues of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the minister agreed to consider some of the concerns the media had on the application of the legislation, which regulates media operations in Zimbabwe”.
Present at the meeting were the editors of three surviving privately owned weekly newspapers, as well as the large state-owned media outlet, which includes two daily papers and the national radio and television broadcasting service.
A senior executive of one of the independent media houses, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Jokonya’s message was that the government will in future enforce the information Act less ruthlessly and will be more open to foreign reporters.
During May 31 voting for a new Parliament, two British journalists were detained near a polling station about 40km west of the capital and held without bail for two weeks before being deported. Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, remains banned.
On Thursday, the editor and a reporter for the privately owned Sunday Standard were charged with ”publishing a false statement prejudicial to the government”.
The Herald said Jokonya urged them ”not to vilify the land-reform programme …. and tell the true Zimbabwean story”.
”What we demand from you is loyalty to the state, not to me or any other person, but the state,” Jokonya said.
Since losing a constitutional referendum in February 2000, President Robert Mugabe has seized 5 000 white-owned farms in what human rights critics alleged was intimidation of opposition under cover of agitation for agrarian reform.
He claimed a two-thirds majority in last month’s elections, sufficient to amend the Constitution at will, although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change alleged widespread rigging and intimidation invalidated the result. — Sapa-AP