Robert Mugabe’s government has moved to close Zimbabwe’s remaining independent press by stripping newspaper owner Trevor Ncube, also the publisher of the Mail & Guardian in South Africa, of his citizenship.
The action against the publisher comes as Mugabe (82), president for 26 years, pushes for an extension to his term of office by a further two years. Frustrated by unprecedented resistance from within his Zanu-PF party, he appears to be trying to silence all of his critics.
On Saturday an outspoken opponent, Lovemore Madhuku, accused the police of failing to investigate a fire at his home, which he said was arson.
”It is very clear that the government is trying to silence all critical voices, including Trevor Ncube and his newspapers, and me. We are all opposed to Mugabe’s attempts to extend his rule to 2010,” said Madhuku, a law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.
Senior government officials said Ncube, the publisher of the M&G, the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard, was not entitled to Zimbabwean citizenship because his father was Zambian.
Zimbabwe’s strict media laws require newspapers to be owned by Zimbabwean citizens. If the Mugabe government succeeds in withdrawing Ncube’s citizenship, it is expected to swiftly close his two papers, which are staunch critics of Mugabe’s policies.
Ncube said on Saturday that he would go to court to retain his citizenship: ”I am a Zimbabwean. I was born and bred in Zimbabwe and I have no other citizenship.
”I am confident the courts will uphold my rights,” he said.
Ncube’s father was from Zambia but held Zimbabwean citizenship by the time his son was born, according to court papers. A year ago the government seized Ncube’s passport but the courts ordered that it be returned to him.
He publishes Zimbabwe’s last remaining privately owned newspapers. The government has closed down the Daily News and three other papers since 2003.
Despite numerous arrests and threats of violence, the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard have continued to expose corruption and human rights abuses.
Most recently Ncube’s newspapers were the only publications to reveal that Mugabe’s efforts to extend his rule until 2010 were rejected at the Zanu-PF party conference in mid-December.
In December 2005, Zimbabwean authorities seized Ncube’s passport under a new measure to punish government critics.
The Zimbabwean Parliament earlier that year approved changes to the Constitution that allow the state to seize the passports of people perceived to be anti-government.
Authorities handed back the passport after six days, after Ncube’s lawyers went to the High Court.
Ncube told the M&G Online that the matter was with his lawyers and that he expected a decision within a few weeks. He said he would not be visiting Zimbabwe in the interim. – Guardian Unlimited Â