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Zim journalists warned again
14/10/2003 21:51 - (SA)
Zimbabwe - Police on Wednesday warned three more journalists from Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper that they faced prosecution for working without accreditation - part of a crackdown on dissent.
Reporters Grey Chitiga, Saul Gwakuva Ndlovu and Oscar Nkala were ordered to Harare from the western city of Bulawayo to meet with the police's political crimes section, Daily News attorney Gugulethu Moyo said.
They were not formally charged, but if prosecuted, they could face up to two years in jail.
"They are just harassing journalists," Moyo said. "It is meant to have some kind of chilling effect."
Moyo said the three applied to the state media commission for accreditation a year ago, but were refused on the basis that their paper had not registered with the government-appointed media commission.
The commission later rejected the paper's application for registration and accreditation under stringent new Access to Information laws, saying it had not followed proper procedures and published illegally for eight months without being registered.
Gales of laughter for Moyo
The newspaper, with 300 employees and daily readership of more than 940 000, has appealed the ban. But 20 journalists have now been issued warnings that they will be summoned to court to answer criminal charges of working for an unlicensed newspaper or without personal accreditation.
In a speech to financial consultants broadcast on Wednesday on state radio, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused Daily News management of risking the livelihoods of its staff by trying to fight media laws.
"I feel very sorry for the staff of the Daily News," he said, before his voice was drowned out by gales of laughter.
Gugulethu Moyo, no relation to the minister, responded: "If anybody is at fault here, it is the Zimbabwean government for trying to prevent journalists practicing their profession."
Daily News' main shareholder, Strive Masiyiwa, now based in South Africa, has promised to bankroll staff salaries for two years while the paper tries to have the new media laws struck down as a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.
- AP
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