Journalists tell of death threats and plot to kill critical media workers

Two Zimbabwean journalists say their lives have been threatened, and that there is plot — said to be hatched by people close to the government and ruling party — to kill media workers critical of President Robert Mugabe. The Reuters bureau chief in Zimbabwe, Chris Chinaka, says he was warned that he would be killed […]

Two Zimbabwean journalists say their lives have been threatened,
and that there is plot — said to be hatched by people close to
the government and ruling party — to kill media workers critical
of President Robert Mugabe.

The Reuters bureau chief in Zimbabwe, Chris Chinaka, says he was
warned that he would be killed if he continued to “write reports
critical of President Mugabe.” Chinaka says he was attending a
government reception on 27 March 1996, when he was called over by
Enoch Kamushinda, the Secretary-General of the Indigenous Business
Development Centre (IBDC, created in 1991 by the ruling Zimbabwe
African Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, party to support black
business people). “‘You should have been killed for writing
reports critical of President Robert Mugabe,'” Chinaka reports
Kamushinda as saying. “‘I am warning you to stop writing reports
against President Mugabe. Stop everything you are writing on
Mugabe.'”
Chinaka says he argued that his reports about the President were
no more critical than those written by other journalists, but
Kamushinda apparently continued: “‘You think you are a white man.
Take it seriously….this (plot to kill journalists) has been
discussed and you and other reporters are wanted.'”
Another journalist who works for the state-owned media but who
wished not to be named, confirms Chinaka’s story. The journalist
says he too was approached by Kamushinda at the same function and
was told that he (the journalist) was on the hit list. Explaining
why he wished to remain anonymous, the government journalist told
MISA, “Kamushinda has strong connections with the (ruling ZANU-PF)
party cadres working for the state-controlled media, and if they
know I discussed this, I will be in problems. I am also said to be
on the list of bad reporters who were wanted.” The journalist said
he told his bosses of the plot, but says they have ignored the
matter.
When asked by Chinaka to explain for whom he was speaking and
whether he was a state security agent, Kamushinda reportedly said,
“‘You can make your own conclusions but I am speaking for those
who love the President.'” Kamushinda then reportedly left the
room.
Chinaka says this was the second time he had been threatened. Last
year, the state-controlled daily newspaper “The Herald” ran an
editorial castigating media reports critical of Mugabe’s
government. Chinaka’s name was mentioned in the editorial. “Last
year’s threat was not as nerve-racking as this year’s,” says
Chinaka. “This is the first time I have been told directly that
they want to kill me.” Since talking to Kamushinda, Chinaka says
he has been receiving anonymous telephone calls, “sometimes every
five minutes.”
The Press Officer in the office of the President in Harare,
Laurence Kamwe, confirmed receiving a letter from Reuters in
London in which the news organisation asked the government to
protect Chinaka and to investigate the threats made against him.
However, Kamwe denies that Kamushinda is a government employee.
“Kamushinda is not working in government and he is not a
government spokesperson,” said Kamwe, adding that Kamushinda was
“expressing his personal opinion and was not speaking for the
President.”
Asked what the government was doing about the threats, the Press
Officer said, “There is nothing we can do about it. You had better
follow up the issue with Kamushinda.” Director of Information
Posts and Telecommunications, Bornwell Chakaodza, told MISA, “I
have heard of the threats. But the IBDC is a private company with
no connections to the government. Besides, President Mugabe has
always and unfairly been severely criticised, but he has not taken
action against anyone of them (critical journalists). That should
speak about the volume of press freedom in Zimbabwe.”
Attempts by MISA to contact Kamushinda have so far proved
unsuccessful.

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His Excellency President Robert Mugabe

Office of the President

PO Box 7700 Causeway

Harare, Zimbabwe

Tel: +263 4 707091

Fax: +263 4 708557