(MISA/IFEX) – Minister of State for Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo has said that the privately owned media is an oppositional press and should not expect to be treated with kids gloves, “The Sunday Mail” reported on 22 April 2001. Writing an opinion piece in the state owned “The Sunday Mail”, Moyo attacked the privately […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Minister of State for Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo has said that the privately owned media is an oppositional press and should not expect to be treated with kids gloves, “The Sunday Mail” reported on 22 April 2001.
Writing an opinion piece in the state owned “The Sunday Mail”, Moyo attacked the privately owned media for being against the ruling party and government, threatening unspecified action in the process. “There are different forms and degrees of opposition. When journalists and editors create stories and invent events, the public, and that includes the government and the ruling party, has a right to respond in equal if not greater measure, without being limited to the fictional boundaries of a mere denial,” said Moyo.
“In other words, and as part of the democratic principle upon which freedom of expression is based, the publication of created stories and invented events should not just be denied by those affected but should be fully exposed for what they are,” said Moyo. “In the age of information the press or media, which is but a tiny part of the communication cycle, does not have and does not deserve any special rights that are not accorded other people. Freedom of expression is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a preserve of the press, whose main reason for existence is to make money and peddle influence,” said Moyo. “Freedom of expression is about your rights, our rights, as ordinary
people. It is a fallacy to assume and believe that threats to freedom of expression can only come from governments and ruling parties because the truth is that all forms of organised interests and opinions, including media houses and their owners, can and do pose serious threats to freedom of expression,” he noted.
In an attack on MISA, Moyo said the organisation has sought to abuse freedom of expression as a pretext for supporting the oppositional newspaper “The Daily News” and aspiring broadcasting station Capital Radio. “If MISA truly imagines that Zimbabweans will ever tolerate such blatant abuse of freedom of expression on behalf of a British sponsored opposition, then, yes, they ain’t seen nothing yet! because that will never, ever happen in a Zimbabwe with a proud heritage of the liberation struggle, whose heroic veterans are still with us today,” said Moyo. “If the foreign interests behind the so-called MISA and their pirate Capital radio think they can play Strive Masiiwa’s game in the hope of getting a radio licence through the court, then they must be told
and understand in no uncertain terms that they are simply dreaming,” Moyo stated. Masiiwa is the chief executive officer of Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s leading cellphone company, that got a licence after a five years battle with the government in courts.
“It is not the jurisdiction of the courts in a democracy for a radio licence to be given to anybody by the courts. Only the executive has that responsibility, and that is how it shall be in Zimbabwe,” said Moyo. “While the oppositional press has always invented imaginary repression and given the false impression that silencing them necessarily means and requires the use of bombs and grenades and other unacceptable forms of violence, the real truth is that the British sponsored oppositional mouthpieces can and must be silenced through the democratic and peaceful process via the voice and actions of the people,” the minister stated.
Moyo’s attack on the private media follows what he describes as its (private media) silence over what he termed successful independence celebrations organised by the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). “In fact, the entire so-called independent press, including those parts of it that claim to be nationalists, did not have front page coverage of the event and its national significance,” said Moyo. “They were each and all silenced by the sheer success of the event,” said Moyo. Pinpointing one particular newspaper, “The Zimbabwe Mirror”, Moyo said that this newspaper wants to be seen as nationalist but has of late been attacking the ruling party and the government. “Why, for example, is the is it that the editorial cartoons in ‘The Zimbabwe Mirror’ are consistently anti-government and the ruling party, yet the editors of the paper want the reader, the government and ruling party to see the paper as being independent of the so-called independent press,” said Moyo. “Recently, some reporters from ‘The Daily News’ crossed to ‘The Zimbabwe Mirror’ with the result that strange things have been happening,” said Moyo.
Background Information
Moyo’s attacks come at a time when all the prominent privately owned newspapers published a story about his lashing at the hands of veteran nationalist and freedom fighter Edgar Tekere, who described Moyo as mad and a Johnny come late (newcomer). Moyo had attacked “The Daily
News” for allegedly writing a false story that Tekere had been asked to rejoin the party by Vice President Joseph Msika. Tekere later attacked Moyo and defended “The Daily News” story, saying it was almost verbatim in its accuracy. Tekere’s attack on Moyo was carried by “The Financial Gazette”, “The Zimbabwe Independent”, “The Zimbabwe Mirror” and “The Daily News” on 19 and 20 April.
