Media commission threatens foreign papers

By Lance Guma
21 March 2006

The Chairman of the Media and Information commission has threatened to tighten media laws in a bid to block the distribution of what he called ‘subversive material of foreign origin.’ Tafataona Mahoso’s commission has shut down several newspapers publishing inside the country but he is now eager to spread that control to foreign owned or published newspapers. Clearly in Mahoso’s sight are papers like The Zimbabwean, Mail & Guardian and The Sunday Times which are printed in South Africa.

Wilf Mbanga, the publisher of The Zimbabwean newspaper, says Mahoso clearly has a personal vendetta against his publication and the proposed legislation was just an attempt to target them. Mbanga vowed to defy any bans that may be imposed saying they will always find ways to smuggle the paper into the country. He says it would be futile to even challenge any such unjust laws given that the judiciary is now a compromised institution.

Mahoso told the state owned Herald that ‘it is essential that we should regulate both the publishers and the distributors.’ Although he did not mention any names Mahoso’s verbal attacks on The Zimbabwean and its publisher Mbanga are well documented. By also regulating the distributors Mahoso hopes to be able to kill two birds with one stone. Even if the publishers smuggle their papers into the country anyone selling them can then be prosecuted if the law comes into place. ‘Those distributors who import foreign periodicals should indicate where they are procuring such periodicals,’ Mahoso is quoted as saying.

The government facing increasing unpopularity has resorted to clamping down on the media and seems eager to stop the flow of information to the majority of people. Newspapers and radio stations have been shut down while the state maintains a strong monopoly of the electronic media which is complimented by over half a dozen newspapers countrywide. An increasingly isolated Zimbabwean population has resorted to reading and listening to foreign based media organisations for accurate accounts of events in their own country.