(MISA/IFEX) – A provincial leader of the main Mozambican opposition party Renamo, Manuel Pereira, has threatened to ban the Mozambican press from covering Renamo in the current general election campaign. Quoted in the daily “Diario de Mocambique”, Pereira, who is leader of Renamo in Sofala province, claimed that the media were distorting the truth about […]
(MISA/IFEX) – A provincial leader of the main Mozambican opposition party
Renamo, Manuel Pereira, has threatened to ban the Mozambican press from
covering Renamo in the current general election campaign.
Quoted in the daily “Diario de Mocambique”, Pereira, who is leader of Renamo
in Sofala province, claimed that the media were distorting the truth about
the campaign, and hiding the acceptance that he allegedly enjoyed among the
population of Beira, Mozambique’s second largest city. Pereira further
claimed that the ruling Frelimo Party was bribing some journalists to work
against Renamo and ten minor parties allied to it.
Pereira, who was speaking on Sunday 24 October 1999 in a Beira suburb, said
he hoped to see a change in the attitude of the media and their reporters.
Otherwise, he would inform the Renamo headquarters in Maputo that he did not
need any media coverage of the campaign in Sofala.
“I’m the Renamo delegate in Sofala,” he said. “If I say I don’t need any
journalists because they’re hiding the truth, then I’ll be listened to.
Working on our own, without any coverage, we can and shall win the
elections.”
His specific complaint was against Mozambican Television (TVM). He was
annoyed that the television station had shown him speaking at length on the
first day of Renamo’s election campaign in the province, instead of showing
images of the party’s supporters.
He also attacked “Diario de Mocambique” for claiming he had said “we don’t
want foreigners here.” This had been the paper’s interpretation of Pereira’s
attack on Frelimo for putting someone who was not from Sofala as head of its
list of parliamentary candidates for that provincial constituency.
Pereira also accused two journalists, whom he identified merely as “Mavila”
and “Dinis”, of having been taken by an alleged member of Frelimo “to a
kiosk where they were seen receiving envelopes.” He further claimed that one
of the journalists had been bribed with a television, saying this was all
designed to “entice journalists to write everything against Renamo.”
The Mozambican news agency AIM reports that if Pereira attempts to carry
through with his threat to ban reporters from the Renamo campaign, he will
be in breach of the Mozambican press law. AIM reports that by its very
nature, an election campaign takes place in public, and the law guarantees
reporters free access to all public places. The only way Pereira can legally
ban reporters will be by restricting the Renamo campaign to the private
homes of Renamo supporters.
