Zimbabwe media under siege

By Lance Guma
19 August 2005

A story by the Zimbabwe Independent alleging State security agencies are taking over newspapers in the country continues to cause shockwaves in the industry. It is alleged shadowy companies owned by the intelligence services now own 100 percent of the Financial Gazette and 70 percent of the Mirror Group which publishes the Daily and Sunday Mirror titles. The various competing newspapers have been trading accusations and counter-accusations all week, but it is the silence of one of the papers that has got the most tongues wagging.

Media sources say the Publisher of the Mirror Group, Ibbo Mandaza, was gagged by the 'new owners' from running a strong denial in the Saturday edition of the paper, confirming suspicions he is no longer in charge. Adding intrigue to the story is clear evidence the CIO now actually believe Mandaza might have been the source of the Zimbabwe Independent Story. The Financial Gazette meanwhile ran their own denials and accused the Independent of commercial jealousy.

The same week also saw Gweru based Editor of the Star newspaper, Willie Mponda, becoming the first journalist in the country to be convicted under the harsh Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The state alleged that a story run by the paper on a Gweru woman who committed suicide when her phone shops were destroyed by police was inaccurate.

The police said her name was incorrect and that the suicide note she left cited personal problems and not the destruction of the phone shops. Critics have mused over why the police think the destruction of her phone shops would not constitute personal problems. Mponda has since been fined 100 000 Zimbabwe dollars but says he will appeal the conviction.

Another journalist, this time from the banned Daily News, Kelvin Jakachira also appeared in court on charges of working without accreditation from the government appointed Media and Information Commission. The siege did not end there. Chinese equipment employed to jam the Short Wave transmissions of SW Radio Africa is now being used to jam Voice of the People. VOP, which broadcasts via Radio Netherlands, carries various programs on Zimbabwe produced by journalists based in the country.