Misa slams Zim press freedom

2004-04-30 17:29

Windhoek - Zimbabwe last year had the worst record in terms of media freedom among ten southern African nations, a report by the Windhoek-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) said on Friday.

In its latest annual report "So This Is Democracy? State of media freedom in Southern Africa", the body said 54% of the total 188 alerts issued last year on possible violations of press freedoms concerned Zimbabwe.

But Misa said in the report, issued ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Monday, the 188 alerts in 2003 were nearly 10% lower than in 2002, when there were 208 alerts.

Author Jeanette Minnie said the forced closure of Zimbabwe's private independent Daily News on September 12 2003 on charges that it was being published illegally "was undoubtedly the worst news" of the year.

While the newspaper was allowed to publish again, it has been off the newsstands since February 5, the day the Supreme Court upheld a law stipulating that all journalists in the country must be accredited with a state-appointed media commission.

The Daily News had applied to the media commission for a licence but it was turned down.

The survey said the "Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, like all newspapers controlled by the state, has remained closed to any other voices apart from the government and ruling party."

Assault on privacy

It said the "assault on people's privacy and the right to receive and impart information was confirmed in the revelation in the Daily Mirror of 9 December 2003 that the government intended to acquire ... state-of-the-art equipment to monitor e-mail and internet traffic."

In the 10 southern African countries, Misa reported that 33 journalists were attacked in 2003, 53 were detained and 37 were censored.

The media watchdog also cited eight victories for press freedoms, either through the adoption of legislation strengthening media rights or by dropping charges against journalists.

"No journalists were killed as a result of their work in 2003," said Zoe Titus, the institute's regional programme manager in charge of monitoring media freedom.

Countries monitored by Misa include Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Misa is reviving its media freedom monitoring activities in Angola.

It is the tenth straight year in which Misa has issued an annual survey.

- AFP