Media ‘hangman’ applies to sit on new commission
By Alex Bell
18 June 2009

The future of a free media in Zimbabwe could be in the balance, with revelations that notorious media ‘hangman’, Tafataona Mahoso has reapplied to sit on the new Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).

The Chair of the Parliamentary select committee on the media, Tongai Matutu on Monday made a verbal stand against the inclusion of such ‘media hangmen’ as Jonathan Moyo or Mahoso in the Commission, saying the government will not allow them to be involved. But Mahoso, who headed the now defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC), is reportedly among other applicants vying to be part of the new media regulatory board. It would therefore be almost certain that Mahoso would be appointed to the ZMC, as Robert Mugabe is unilaterally responsible for choosing the final nine commissioners from a list of 12 vetted by parliament.

The setting up of the new Commission was supposed to be the starting point in the planned reformation of the media that has been under the strict and damaging control of Mugabe and ZANU PF. The retention of Mahoso is therefore unlikely to open up media space, and observers say it will simply reincarnate the structures of the MIC, which issued stringent conditions for registration of foreign journalists. So called ‘hardliner’ elements in the Media, Information and Publicity ministry are already frantically trying to keep the independent media in check through statutory regulation mechanisms. Even High Court orders allowing journalists to practice without accreditation, while Parliament sets up the ZMC, have been disregarded.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) on Wednesday expressed opposition to the setting up of the ZMC, saying the way must be cleared for media self-regulation. MISA Zimbabwe Chairman Loughty Dube expressed shock that Mahoso is reported to have reapplied to sit on the new Commission. But he explained that the process to select media commissioners is still governed by ‘bad laws,’ which won’t prevent the House Standing Rules and Orders Committee from nominating commissioners along partisan lines.

“Mahoso presided over the killing of media freedom in Zimbabwe,” Dube explained. “But the issue is not about individuals if the same bad laws are still in place that allow media freedom to be restricted.”

Dube continued that a self-regulatory mechanism is Zimbabwe’s best step to ensuring a free media exists, but he conceded that the ZMC should be a temporary measure to allow self-regulation to happen eventually. He criticised the unity government for allowing the reformation of the media to be low on its list of priorities, and added that the future of media freedom will depend on the public’s demand for such freedoms to exist.