The editor of one of Zimbabwe’s only remaining independent newspapers, The Standard, which belongs to the stable of media outlets belonging to Mail & Guardian owner Trevor Ncube, this week received an envelope containing a bullet.
Earlier The Standard had published a story saying that there were mass desertions from the army because of poor salaries, as well as a cartoon of three baboons giggling over an army pay slip.
The bullet was received by the editor, Bill Saidi, on Wednesday afternoon in a large khaki envelope. Inside was a photocopy of the cartoon, carrying a warning, ”watch your step”.
”We take this very seriously,” says Iden Wetherell, Group Projects editor of the two weeklies, The Standard and The Independent. ”Given the previous threats to our newspapers and the failure of the state to apprehend those responsible for the abduction and torture of two of our journalists in 1999, and for the subsequent bomb attacks on the Daily News… We want to see all those responsible for attacks on the press, and threats against the press brought to book,” Wetherell said.
”It’s intimidation,” said Saidi. ”They are dissatisfied with our efforts to reveal the truth,” he said.
The CE of the Standard and Independent Group, Raphael Khumalo, made a report to the police on Thursday afternoon.
”Most people did find the cartoon very funny, because we had a story which indicated the army was in a crisis, with soldiers deserting. This was vindicated by a parliamentary portfolio committee which confirmed this,” said Saidi.
A parliamentary portfolio committee recommended last year that the government pay attention to financial issues in the defence forces to ”boost the morale of the forces”. At R350 per month, the salaries of soldiers are below the poverty line.