US embassy cable - 03HARARE1943

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001943 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF FOR A/S KANSTEINER AND PDAS SNYDER; AF/S FOR 
DELISI AND RAYNOR; AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
GUATEMALA CITY FOR DCM WHARTON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, KMDR, ZI, Media and Communications 
SUBJECT: GOZ GIVES FURTHER PROOF OF INTENT TO SHUT DOWN THE 
INDEPENDENT PRESS 
 
REF: A. REF A: HARARE 1933 
     B. REF B: 1887 
 
Classified By: JPOLACHECK FOR REASONS 1.5 b/d 
 
1. (C) On Sept 22, 2003, the police picked up four directors, 
including CEO Sam Nkomo, of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe 
(ANZ), the parent company of The Daily News (TDN), which was 
the only independent daily newspaper in Zimbabwe.  At the 
station, the police took the directors, statements, and 
charged them under Sec. 73 of the Orwellian Access to 
Information and Privacy Protection Act (AIPPA) for illegally 
operating a mass media organization without registering with 
the Media and Information Commission (MIC).  These charges 
stem from the Sept 12 publication of TDN after the Sept 11 
Supreme Court ruling, brushing aside ANZ,s constitutional 
challenge to AIPPA and declaring ANZ,s operations "illegal". 
 Another director was charged on the 23rd, and the Sept 23rd 
edition of the government controlled "The Herald" (which 
reports directly to Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo) 
declared that the authorities were seeking the remaining 
directors.  ANZ said they pleaded neither guilty nor 
not-guilty, but rather challenged again the constitutionality 
of AIPPA.  Their plea was not reported in "The Herald". 
 
2. (C)  While defending their directors in criminal court, 
ANZ is moving forward on three legal fronts in an attempt to 
get TDN back on the street.  They had already filed an urgent 
application with the Administrative Court (ref A) to review 
the MIC decision to deny ANZ registration.  Gugulethu Moyo, 
ANZ,s legal counsel, said there has been no movement on that 
application, and so ANZ filed another application in effect 
suing the court to consider their case.  As a result of the 
Sept 22 charges against the directors, the police obtained a 
search and seizure warrant and removed, for the second time 
in eight days (ref B), computers from TDN newsroom (this 
shuttling back and forth from the police warehouse of TDN,s 
computers occurs during a petrol crisis that reduces many 
police to riding in private cars even when responding to 
emergency calls on domestic abuse. END NOTE).  An urgent High 
Court Application was filed asking for the nullification of 
the warrant, as the facts in the case are not in dispute. 
Moyo feels the asset seizure is an intelligence gathering 
exercise for the internal intelligence services as the 
computers contain reporters, notes, contacts, details, etc. 
 
3. (SBU)  The Media Insitute of Southern Africa/Zimbabwe 
(MISA/Z) is attempting to spearhead a civil society protest 
against the closure of TDN.  A coalition of groups will meet 
on the 24th, with possible boycotts of the propaganda-filled 
"The Herald" and "The Chronicle" (the other 
government-controlled daily) in the works.  MISA/Z has been 
targeted in the government press as a mass-media organization 
needing to register with the MIC.  Published comments by the 
MIC chairman denigrating MISA/Z are similar to those he made 
about TDN before the police occupied TDN,s offices on Sept 
12.  MISA/Z is a media-watchdog NGO. 
 
4. (C) COMMENT Earlier hopes that the GOZ was simply trying 
to intimidate ANZ now appear optimistic.  This attack on the 
free press of Zimbabwe seems to be a thus-far-successful 
attempt to permanently shut down the only daily 
counter-weight to the propaganda coming out of 
government-controlled media which most people were able to 
access.  The GOZ still remains the only game in town on TV 
and FM-radio.  Now, except for three independent business 
weeklies whose price puts them out of the reach of the 
majority of people, the GOZ mouthpieces are the only daily 
newspapers. 
SULLIVAN