IPI Resolution on Freedom of Expression in Zimbabwe
Meeting at their Annual General Assembly on 16 June 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, IPI members condemned the surge of attacks on the media in Zimbabwe, sparked by disputed election results in March, which have further deteriorated conditions for journalists, and threaten the legitimacy of run-off elections slated for 27 June.
The country's bureaucratic requirements, long burdensome, have become increasingly inscrutable. Cosmetic amendments to the notorious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) have triggered confusion, with journalists required to seek accreditation from an agency that has yet to be formed, and electoral coverage requiring two levels of permission, one from a legally defunct entity. As the recent banning of multiple media outlets and prosecutions of journalists, both local and foreign, demonstrated, these inconsistencies have not prevented authorities from using legislation to stifle critical coverage.
Physical attacks are on the rise. In the last few months, several freelancers have been brutally beaten. In May, staffers transporting 60,000 copies of a newspaper into the country from South Africa were assaulted, and their truck torched. Reports of "war veterans" joining together to intimidate villagers into removing satellite receivers permitting access to international programs have emerged.
Judicial harassment has also increased, with an editor prosecuted for "publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and contempt of court" after running a column by an opposition politician, and a media lawyer charged with "undermining the authority or insulting the president" for an alleged remark suggesting that Mugabe should step down.
The state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has been particularly hard hit by the recent clampdown. On 14 May, Henry Muradzikwa, the head of ZBC, was reportedly fired after refusing to comply with orders to deny positive coverage to the opposition. In a blatant attempt to intimidate, in early June, eight other ZBC employees, including senior managers and reporters, were placed on two-month long paid vacation, ordered to surrender their ZBC identity cards, and instructed to stay away from both other employees and ZBC premises.
An uninformed and intimidated citizenry cannot benefit from free and fair elections. IPI members call on President Mugabe to take effective measures to stop the violence and judicial attacks against the media, and to permit fair elections, which include unfettered access to information, and the unhindered presence of the international media.
IPI members also call on the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to take a public stand against the Zimbabwean authorities' actions against freedom of expression in their country.
IPI Resolution on Arrests of Journalists in South Africa
IPI members expressed alarm at the growing number of arrests of journalists and photographers reporting on or photographing the actions of the police at scenes of crime or other incidents in South Africa.
On several occasions in the last year journalists have been summarily bundled into police vans and imprisoned sometimes for a night. In all instances the alleged crimes they had committed - never clearly spelled out at the time of their arrest - have been thrown out of court mainly on grounds that there was no evidence on which to base a prosecution.
Media organizations in South Africa have perceived this conduct by the authorities as an attempt to prevent the public from being informed about official conduct and to intimidate journalists.
At the same time IPI members have noted increasing complaints from journalists and others about the refusal of government officials and local authorities to supply information in answer to questions, certain authorities refusing to deal with newspapers which have criticized official conduct to the extent of refusing to place advertisements in those papers, clearly designed to harm the financial viability of the papers and to coerce editors into being less critical.
IPI members condemn these actions as attempts to impose censorship by indirect means and call on the government to order its staffs and others in authority to abide by the freedom of expression and freedom of the media principles in the country's constitution. IPI members are deeply distressed that South Africa, which was lauded when it introduced its new enlightened constitution in 1996 after years of censorship by the previous apartheid regime, should allow flagrant deviation from those fine principles so soon after it began playing a leadership role in the continent.
Statement issued by the International Press Institute June 16 2008
