This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

230854Z Oct 03

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002104 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
AF/S FOR RAYNOR 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA UPDATE; HARARE 
 
 
  ¶1.   Begin summary: Two independent newspapers "The Daily 
      News" and "The Daily News on Sunday" remain shut as the 
      government of Zimbabwe makes sure that Zimbabweans are 
      bereft of voice and answerability.  The government of 
      Zimbabwe recasts some sections of the controversial Access 
      to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) into a 
      lethal piece of legislation that is more convoluted, 
      treacherous and vindictive.  The Administrative Court will 
      rule this week in a case in which the Associated Newspapers 
      of Zimbabwe (ANZ) is challenging the state-appointed Media 
      and Information Commission (MIC) for rejecting its 
      application for registration.  Friends of "The Daily News" 
      help the newspaper to put together an online edition from 
      South Africa.  The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe clips the 
      wings of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.  Read on.  End 
      summary. 
 
  ¶2.   By closing the "Daily News" and the "Daily News on 
      Sunday" on September 12, 2003 the government of Zimbabwe 
      literally threw spanners into the works of many Zimbabweans 
      who are urgently campaigning for a better future, political 
      freedom and sanity.  With bold editorials and meticulous 
      exposes, the two newspapers, especially "The Daily News," 
      had become vibrant searchlights of responsibility and had 
      shone brilliantly for everyone to see and enable them to 
      have a handle on the good, the bad and the ugly events 
      happening in a jagged and ever-shifting society.  Only 
      those with the capability to access the private and 
      international media, particularly VOA's Studio 7 and Short 
      Wave Radio Africa, are able to obtain news reports closer 
      to reality on what is happening in this volatile southern 
      African nation. 
 
  ¶3.   The ubiquitous state-run print and electronic media is 
      working day in and day out to keep the public in the dark 
      ofn the socioeconomic and political challenges facing the 
      country.  For example, the public media downplayed a recent 
      nation-wide strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade 
      Unions (ZCTU) to show displeasure against the run-away 
      inflation, absence of rule of law, shortage of the local 
      currency, the inhibitive fuel and transport costs and the 
      continued violations of human rights, among other 
      grievances.  Instead of giving an accurate account of the 
      arrests and police brutality against the demonstrators, the 
      government-controlled media carried vague reports about the 
      nationwide demonstrations and drenched the public with 
      soccer news. 
 
  ¶4.   In the absence of "The Daily News" and "The Daily News 
      on Sunday," Zimbabwe's meltdown will never be fully 
      articulated.  Although we still have three weekly 
      independent newspapers, it will remain a tall order for 
      this small but vibrant press to challenge the official 
      version of events put out in the ubiquitous government 
      print and electronic media. 
 
  ¶5.   It's not over until "The Daily News" is back on the 
      streets.  Although the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe 
      (ANZ), publishers of the outlawed newspapers "The Daily 
      News" and "The Daily News on Sunday," has lost a couple of 
      court challenges in the last few weeks against their 
      closure after a Supreme Court ruling that ANZ was operating 
      illegally, the group has not lost hope nor thrown in the 
      towel.  Last week ANZ was at the Administrative Court where 
      they challenged the state-appointed Media and Information 
      Commission (MIC) for declining its application for 
      registration.  The case was even heard, for the first time 
      in many moons, on Sunday when all concerned parties 
      presented their closing arguments.  However, judgment was 
      deferred to either on Thursday or Friday this week, as 
      announced by Justice Michael Majuru soon after the court 
      heard closing submissions from the ANZ and MIC.  Many media 
      critics and commentators are not comfortable with this 
      delay in handing down a verdict.  They fear political 
      manipulation.  "The ANZ has a strong case, but we are 
      losing because the judges are making political decisions at 
      the expense of handing down impartial judgments," said Mr. 
      Bill Saidi, Editor, "The Daily News on Sunday." 
 
  ¶6.   Assisted by "Friends of The Daily News," the paper has 
      re-launched its electronic edition from Johannesburg, South 
      Africa.  The new home for the online edition is www.daily- 
      news.co.zw.  "The move has been inspired by our unwavering 
      commitment to serve the millions of people who read the 
      `Daily News' every day," ANZ said in a statement to 
      announce the new Internet edition.  Adding: "The government 
      would not be able to stop it from operating on the 
      information super-highway as it had no power to do so." 
      All articles to be posted on the website will originate 
      from the newspaper's journalists in Zimbabwe, a move that 
      could be made impossible by the government through the 
      Media and Information Commission.  At the moment, all the 
      journalists working for the ANZ have not been accredited by 
      the MIC as required by law.  The October 17 edition of the 
      government-controlled daily "The Herald" published a 
      damning article on page 2 in which the paper accused ANZ of 
      "resolving to once again break the law" by having its 
      journalists "who are not accredited with the MIC" to gather 
      and write news in the country for the online edition.  The 
      newspaper also quoted Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as 
      saying: "We advise those people to think of their careers. 
      If they want to be outlaws, they should be prepared for the 
      legal consequences. . .We are double determined to insist 
      on the rule of law and the rule of law shall prevail come 
      rain or sunshine." 
 
  ¶7.   In a separate development, The Media and Information 
      Commission has ordered the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media 
      Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) to register under the 
      Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 
      (AIPPA).  In a letter to MISA dated June 4, the MIC told 
      the media watchdog to urgently comply with the regulation. 
      MISA has since filed an application in the High Court 
      seeking a declaratory order that it is not a media 
      organization.  No date has been set for the hearing of the 
      MISA challenge. 
 
  ¶8.   Following the controversy surrounding the closure of 
      "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday" by the 
      government of Zimbabwe last month, the October 15 edition 
      of the government-controlled daily "The Herald" surprised 
      readers by publishing the full Supreme Court judgment that 
      led to the decision to close the newspaper.  According to 
      the newspaper, the publication of the judgment was 
      "intended to clear distortions that have emerged in the 
      interpretation of the ruling." 
 
  ¶9.   Meanwhile, police have charged five ANZ directors and 
      45 journalists working for the ANZ for "illegally operating 
      a media business and working without accreditation or 
      working for an illegal media group," respectively.  All 
      signed warned and cautioned statements before being 
      released.  However, police will proceed by way of summons. 
      According to press reports, police are now interested in 
      questioning the ANZ owner, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, for the 
      same offense. 
 
  ¶10.  In a notice in an extraordinary Government 
      Gazette - released suspiciously at the weekend - 
      Robert Mugabe is reported to have assented to the 
      newly recast Access to Information and Protection of 
      Privacy Act (AIIPA).  The new Act has been heavily 
      criticized by MISA as "an oppressive piece of 
      legislation" that is "not compatible with democratic 
      moral values."  Legal and media experts have 
      characterized the amendments as "largely cosmetic 
      and fall short of addressing the concerns of 
      journalists practicing in Zimbabwe."  Analysts 
      interviewed by the independent weekly "Financial 
      Gazette" in the October 16 edition were disappointed 
      with the inconsequential facelift of the Act, 
      arguing that the amendments dwelt mainly on 
      replacing a few sections of the Act that had been 
      struck off by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. 
      "It is my considered view that apart from changes to 
      Section 80, the amendments were so superficial as to 
      fail to change the character of AIPPA," lawyer 
      Sternford Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness was quoted 
      as saying.  Adding: "AIPPA remains objectionable and 
      inconsistent with what one expects in a democratic 
      society.  Its character as an obstacle to free flow 
      of information, ideas and beliefs remains."  The 
      president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, 
      Matthew Takaona, criticized the new Act saying, "The 
      law gives too much power to the MIC.  It actually 
      silences journalists." 
 
  ¶11.  Part of the amendments to AIPPA include the insertion 
      of a new section on the abuse of journalistic privilege 
      after the Supreme Court struck out section 80 of the Act 
      which mad it an offense for a journalist to publish 
      falsehoods as unconstitutional in May last year.  Section 
      80 made it an offense to publish a falsehood but made no 
      reference to the intention of such publication.  The new 
      section makes publication of falsehoods a criminal offense 
      only when there is a deliberate intention to publish a lie 
      or when the author of the falsehood is totally reckless 
      about whether the information is false or not.  A new 
      section on abuse of freedom of expression states that a 
      person who makes use of a mass media service for the 
      purpose of abusing freedom of expression by publishing 
      falsehoods shall be guilty of an offense and liable to a 
      fine or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both such 
      fine and imprisonment. 
 
  ¶12.  The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has clipped 
      Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's wings.  In a 
      well-received ruling passed last month, the Supreme 
      Court declared unconstitutional section 6 of the 
      Broadcasting Services Act that gave the minister 
      unfettered power to veto the granting of a license 
      by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, as well 
      as the requirement to have only one national radio 
      and television station in addition to the public 
      broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. 
      This verdict was made following an application by 
      "Capitol Radio" challenging the refusal by the 
      Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe to give it a 
      license to operate in the country.  The Supreme 
      Court struck off Section 6 of the Act that made 
      Information Minister Jonathan Moyo the sole 
      licensing authority, saying, "This seriously 
      undermined the independence of the regulatory 
      authority." 
 
  ¶13.  Comment: The closure of "The Daily News" and "The 
      Daily News on Sunday" has effectively destroyed one of the 
      pillars of democracy.  Without reliable and balanced 
      sources of information about what is happening in 
      government and the society, Zimbabweans have been denied an 
      extremely important source of information, providing news 
      and analysis about what is happening inside their country, 
      and of the solutions to national problems.  Instead, the 
      ubiquitous state-controlled print and electronic media is 
      failing to inform the nation fully and objectively. 
      Zimbabweans are fed a one-sided view, which does not give 
      the full story of events and issues.  In commenting about 
      the closure of "The Daily News," "The Post" newspaper in 
      neighboring Zambia aptly sums up this new entry in 
      Zimbabwe's sorry record of media oppression by declaring: 
      "The Zimbabwe government has never shown much commitment to 
      the defense of a free, independent and robustly critical 
      press.  It has never accepted the freedom of the press as 
      its inalienable right to be a critic and a monitor." 
 
  SULLIVAN