DEPUTY Information minister Murisi Zwizwai has slammed politicians and law enforcement agents for manipulating and harassing journalists.
Report by Feluna Nleya
Giving a keynote address during commemorations to mark World Press Freedom Day in Harare yesterday, Zwizwai said government was concerned over the continued persecution of journalists and described the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) as the press’ number one enemy.
“It is the number one enemy of press freedom and it has no space in the democratic country of Zimbabwe where there is a new constitution, and there is no room for it in a country which has been independent for the past 33 years,” he said.
The Act was introduced in 2002 during the era of Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo as Information minister with the sole mandate of muzzling the private media.
“There is a lot of harassment of journalists in the country and as a government we are very concerned about that and we want our media practitioners to work freely and to do their work without fear.
“So we do not want any harassment and we would like that to stop. We also do not want politicians to use the journalists and determine what they publish, let them do their work freely. We want them to report freely especially at this time when the country will soon go for elections. We want them to work as freely as possible.”
Zwizwai said implementation of media reforms should be speeded up to open the airwaves for community radio stations, but urged journalists to guard against use of hate language.
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Speaking at the same event, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) acting president Michael Chideme said the continued harassment of journalists portrayed a negative image for the country.
Chideme said journalists experienced challenges in the course of their duty, among them security threats.
According to the 2013 World Press Freedom Index report released in February, Zimbabwe was ranked 133 with analysts attributing the low ratings to persecution of journalists and the tense atmosphere generated by preparations for make-or-break harmonised elections later this year.
