Articles by Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Member of parliament blasts ZANU-PF over broadcasting legislation
(MISA/IFEX) – On Thursday 8 March 2001, Masvingo South Member of Parliament (MP) Eddison Zvobgo accused the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) of trying to introduce unconstitutional and irrational laws governing public broadcasting in Zimbabwe. Zvobgo, who was heckled by Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa while debating the regulations in […]
Arrests made in Cardoso murder case
(MISA/IFEX) – Bowing to public and media pressure, Mozambican Interior Minister Almerinho Manhenje finally announced that arrests were made in connection with the murder of Carlos Cardoso, the country’s best known journalist, the South African Press Agency (SAPA) reported last week. Cardoso, editor of the independent newsletter “Metical”, was ambushed and gunned down in a […]
New agency could interfere with newspaper content
(MISA/IFEX) – Interference in newspapers’ content could result from the establishment of the “Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA)” proposed by the government, Print Media SA has warned. In a foreword to the draft position paper on the agency, released for comment in November 2000, Minister in the office of the President Essop Pahad said […]
Journalist threatened, assaulted
(MISA/IFEX) – The “Zimbabwe Independent” newspaper has reported that one of its reporters, Brian Hungwe, was manhandled and threatened by the co-ordinator of the National Development Assembly (NDA) and former president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Kindness Paradza, on 16 December 2000. The incident was apparently provoked by an article in the last […]
Editor Fred M’membe acquitted on espionage charges
(MISA/IFEX) – Fred M’membe, editor-in-chief of the “The Post” newspaper, has been acquitted on charges of espionage by the Lusaka High Court. In acquitting the journalist on 21 December 2000, Judge Elizabeth Muyovwe said the state had failed to prove that the lead story published in the “Post” on 9 March 1999 was classified. Nor […]
Journalists receive death threats
(MISA/IFEX) – The editor of the independent weekly “Savana”, Salomao Moyana, along with one of the paper’s senior reporters, Paulo Machava, received an anonymous phone call threatening them with death, reports the Mozambican news agency AIM. Moyana told AIM that Machava took the call on 14 December 2000. There was a male voice on the […]
Police interrogate journalist over story
(MISA/IFEX) – On 12 and 13 December 2000, members of Malawi’s Fiscal Police called journalist Denis Mzembe in for questioning over a story alleging that a company run by President Bakili Muluzi’s wife was involved in a shady cement deal. Mzembe, who writes for the “Weekend Nation”, told the PANA news agency that the police […]
Newspaper faces several civil and criminal lawsuits
(MISA/IFEX) – On 9 December 2000, the Zimbabwe government announced that it was planning to sue the independent newspaper “Daily News” for criminal defamation. During the previous week, the newspaper published a series of stories alleging massive corruption involving several senior state officials, including President Robert Mugabe, in the award of a tender for a […]