Articles by Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Ministerial pressure on paper is “more than family row,” says MISA
A newspaper is under pressure from a cabinet minister following the paper’s publication of a story speculating that the minister wanted to resign from cabinet. “The Weekly Chronicle” led its 3 July 1995 edition with a story headlined “Patel resigns?”, in which an unnamed source disclosed that then-Minister of Mines and Energy Rolph Patel had […]
“Financial Gazette” editors name sources; individuals identified as sources deny leak
**Updates IFEX alert dated 24 July, 10 and 16 June and 16 July 1995** Trevor Ncube, editor of the “Financial Gazette”, has named the person the journalist says fed his paper with information which resulted in Ncube, “Gazette” publisher Elias Rusike, and “Gazette” deputy-editor Simba Makunike being charged with criminal defamation. According to the South […]
Gay organization barred from book fair
An organization representing gays and lesbians has been barred from the Zimbabwe International Book Fair as a result of government pressure. Organizers of the fair on 29 August 1995 stopped Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) from running a stand at the fair, the theme of which is Human Rights and Freedom of Expression. Opening […]
Journalist Edina Ndejembi acquitted; trial pending for 10 others
**Updates IFEX CH alert dated 21 April 1995** Edina Ndejembi, the freelance journalist charged with “obstructing the police” was acquitted by Moshi magistrates on 26 June 1995. Her case had previously been adjourned on three occasions, much to the inconvenience of the journalist, who had to travel 600-or-so kilometres from Dar es Salaam to Moshi […]
Newspaper source arrested
An intelligence officer working for President Frederick Chiluba has been arrested and charged with providing a newspaper with information, the government-owned “Daily Times” reported on 27 June 1995. According to the “Daily Times”, Weston Haundu, an “intelligence officer” working from State House, appeared in court on 26 June, accused of “conveying information to unauthorised people” […]
Community radio station silenced
At 1:00pm on June 21 1995, a team of police accompanied by Eric Lefebvre, a technician with the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA, the government body responsible for broadcast regulation in France), and Mr. Boulet of the Comite Technique Radiophonique in Marseille (CTR, responsible for technical aspects of broadcasting in the region), burst into Radio […]
Security chief says it is a journalist’s “patriotic duty” to provide information to national intelligence agency
It is the “patriotic duty” of everyone — journalists included — to “share” information with the Namibian Security Intelligence Agency (NSIA), the President’s Special Advisor on National Security, Peter Tshirumbu, has told media workers. Tshirumbu on 21 June 1995 gave what newspapers say was his first press conference since Namibian independence in 1990 to respond […]
Two journalists charged under colonial legislation
**Updates IFEX CH alert dated 20 June 1995** Two senior journalists, detained on 19 June 1995 in connection with a story alleging that Zambian President Frederick Chiluba had a Zairean mistress, were released on police bail following a court appearance on 20 June. Fred M’membe, Managing Director of “The Post” newspaper, and the paper’s Editor-in-Chief, […]