(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo, RSF protested the new restrictions against foreign journalists. RSF asked the minister to cancel these measures and allow foreign correspondents to work freely throughout Zimbabwe. “The authorities try to control information inside and outside the country by any means,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo, RSF protested the new restrictions against foreign journalists. RSF asked the minister to cancel these measures and allow foreign correspondents to work freely throughout Zimbabwe. “The authorities try to control information inside and outside the country by any means,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “These new restrictions follow foreign media allegations of corruption and lawlessness by President Robert Mugabe’s governement,” he explained. The organisation recalled that, in February 2001, the BBC’s Harare correspondent Joseph Winter, and Mercedes Sayagues, correspondent for the South African daily “Mail and Guardian”, were deported by immigration officers because the Minister of Information had “changed accreditation rules for foreign journalists” (see IFEX alerts of 26, 21, 19, 16 and 15 February 2001). Sayaques told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that, “the government is ready to trample on the law, destroy the economy and violate human rights.”
According to information obtained by RSF, on 13 June, the Zimbabwean government announced that foreign journalists are now required to apply for accreditation from the Information Department, at least one month before their entry into the country. Foreign journalists will be able to make their travel arrangements only when they have a “clear indication from the department on the accreditation status of applicants.” The department will not accept applications by foreign journalists already in the country. Foreign correspondents were advised to leave the country and reapply for accreditation in their own country. Moyo declared that the government’s new policy is to encourage foreign news organisations to employ local journalists as Zimbabwean correspondents, in order to fight unemployment. Foreign media in the country include Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, “The Guardian”, “The Financial Times”, the BBC, CNN and several South African and European newspapers.
