Zimbabwean journalists on Wednesday marched from a local hotel in Harare to where the banned Daily News and The Tribune were formerly housed to mark World Press Freedom Day.
The march attracted more than 50 local journalists who first marched peacefully to Trustee House, former offices of the Daily News. The building was bombed in 2000 when it was the head office of the independent paper. Less than a year, later the paper’s printing press was also bombed and, as with the first bombing, no arrests were made.
Commentators at the time attributed the bombings — and the later banning of the newspaper — to its high criticism of the government.
The journalists who joined Wednesday’s march were mostly from privately owned media houses as well as former employees of the closed publications and radio stations. They carried placards calling on the government to bring back newspapers such as the Daily News, The Tribune and Weekly Times.
At Trustee House, the journalists observed a minute of silence before they started shouting “Mahoso, open the Daily News” — referring to Tafataona Mahoso, head of the government’s Media and Information Commission (MIC).
From there, they marched to Megawatt House where the Tribune was housed before being forcibly shut down by the government.
Zimbabwe’s theme for World Press Freedom Day this year was No to Statutory Regulation, Yes to Self-Regulation. The chairperson for the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, Thomas Deve, said that although the government has agreed to in principle to self-regulation, it is not what is happening on the ground.
“In principle they have conceded to self-regulation,” he said, “but in practice, if you look at what, for instance, the permanent secretary for information, George Charamba, has written in the Herald today, there still doubt about their genuineness.
“The Information Minister, [Tichaona] Jokonya, said he is very genuine and the deputy minister has also indicated that.”
Deve thinks that the issue of self-regulation is something the two ministers will just let go without defending the MIC. He said self-regulation is the way forward, however, and journalists will continue to lobby for it.
However, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary general Foster Dongozi feels it will be difficult to achieve self-regulation.
He said: “As far as the situation stands now, it is difficult to see which way it is going because we have witnessed the closure of several newspapers and of course other radio stations, while on the other hand government universities and colleges continue to churn out thousands of journalism graduates.”
In previous years when such marches took place, police ended up pouncing on the marchers, and these actions seemed to have instilled fear among many journalists who were keen to participate in Wednesday’s march.
The government has since 2000 been shutting down independent publications it deems to be against the current government of President Robert Mugabe.
At least six media houses have been forcibly shut down since the government’s draconian Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy Act was enacted in 2001. The government has absolute control over who may practise journalism in Zimbabwe.
Amnesty International (New Zealand) director Ced Simpson said Zimbabwe is rated among countries with a poor press-freedom record. He said that those Zimbabwean reporters who are game enough to comment on this situation may face the might of the law.
“Beyond the globally recognised media agencies reside hundreds of thousands of media workers who wonder every day whether their latest story will land them in prison,” said Simpson.