Zimbabwe: the media Under siege
Zimbabweans, wearied by harassment from President Robert Mugabe’s regime are to cast their votes again in a run-off presidential race on 27 June. Reports continue to emerge of a vicious, nationwide campaign of intimidation. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said 42 of its members and supporters died in the eight weeks following the March 29 General Election.
Journalists are also prime targets. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe chapter says the government of Zimbabwe has used repressive legislation as a pretext to intimidate, harass and arbitrarily arrest journalists.
One casualty is Matthew Takaona, President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, who was beaten by 10 soldiers in his home town of Chitungwiza.
Frank Chikowore, a 26-year-old freelance is another journalist to be attacked by the police. He was arrested in mid-April and held for 17 days. His lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, was arrested while waiting to make presentations on his behalf at the High Court. He is said to have told senior prosecutor Michael Mugabe that his ‘father’ should step down. Mugabe entered a complaint and Nkomo was charged with making “dangerous public utterances likely to cause disaffection”.
A Zimbabwean journalist working for the state media, who must remain anonymous, sums up the challenges facing media workers: “Their safety is at risk because of the deep political polarisation in the country. Journalists who work for private media, both local and foreign, are treated with suspicion by elements who are pro-Zanu-PF. On the other hand, journalists who work for the public media locally tend to get it difficult from people who belong to the MDC.”