/ 27 March 2010

Zim finance minister says media reform on cards

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Saturday said Zimbabwe was working to reform its harsh media laws.

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Saturday said Zimbabwe was working to reform its harsh media laws, with work on a new constitution expected to get under way next month.

“If we look at our situation both from a legal and operational position, we are lagging behind” in media freedoms, Biti said he opened a two-day congress of the Federation of African Journalists
(FAJ) in Harare.

“The good news is that we have begun to take decisive steps to ensure we extricate ourselves out of the media deficit.

“Our country is going through an important and defining process, the constitution-making process, and one of the rights we will see is the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the media as well.”

President Robert Mugabe’s government introduced stringent media laws in 2002 which were invoked to expel foreign reporters and ban several private newspapers, including a popular daily renowned for its anti-government stance.

Journalists fleeing the country
“Zimbabwean journalists have over the past few years operated under some extremely difficult conditions,” Foster Dongozi, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists told the congress.

“This resulted in some journalists fleeing the country while others were arrested or beaten up. We therefore hope that the anticipated media reforms as laid out in the power-sharing deal will be implemented immediately.”

Under the unity deal that brought together Mugabe with his erstwhile rival Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister last year, the government is meant to commit to greater media freedom.

A new council with powers to regulate the media held its first meeting last week while a daily banned in 2003 flighted an advertisement calling back its former journalists and inviting new ones to apply for jobs.

Greater media freedom is one of the key demands of Western donors, who are insisting on political reforms before committing to major new aid to the unity government.

Work on Zimbabwe’s new constitution has stalled since last year, but is set to get under way with a series of public consultations next month.

Zuma calls for end to sanctions
South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday renewed his call for Western sanctions against Mugabe’s regime to be lifted during a visit to Uganda.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the close of a two-day state visit, Zuma argued the sanctions created an imbalance in Zimbabwe’s national unity government.

“One part of the government, which is the MDC, is functioning at full strength because they can travel abroad and mobilise while the other side cannot operate effectively because of restrictions, therefore these sanctions are an impediment,” Zuma said.

Govt fails to make headway
Both the European Union and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe, his wife and inner circle in protest at disputed 2008 elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.

“Zanu-PF has raised these issues that the sanctions are not allowing the unity government to operate at its full strength,” Zuma argued.

“If sanctions are lifted we can make faster progress,” he added.

Museveni endorsed Zuma’s position in a joint statement.

Zimbabwe’s descent into political and economic crisis began 10 years ago, when Mugabe lost a referendum on a new constitution that would have expanded the powers of a man who has ruled since independence in 1980. – AFP