US embassy cable - 03HARARE2132

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PGOV, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: POLICE STYMIE COURT JUDGMENT FOR DAILY NEWS 
 
REF: (A) HARARE 1997 (B) HARARE 1943 and previous 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET POSTING. 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Following a ruling by the Administrative 
Court in its favor October 24, The Daily News (TDN) 
published a truncated October 25 issue before a police raid 
closed the offices of parent Associated Newspapers of 
Zimbabwe (ANZ) later that day.  The Media and Information 
Commission (MIC) will appeal the court's judgment, which 
ordered it to be recomposed and to issue a certificate of 
registration to ANZ by November 30.  The judgment did not by 
its terms authorize immediate resumption of operations by 
ANZ and certain factions within the Government are expected 
to resist renewed publication even after November 30.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Justice Michael Majuru, President of Zimbabwe's 
Administrative Court, on October 24 ruled in favor of the 
ANZ, publishers of TDN and "The Daily News on Sunday" 
(TDNS), after hearing ANZ's appeal of the state-appointed 
Media and Information Commission's (MIC) refusal to grant it 
an operating license.  The court found for ANZ on all three 
grounds elaborated in its appeal: that the MIC was 
improperly constituted, that it acted outside its statutory 
authority, and that it was unduly biased.   It ordered that 
the MIC be reconstituted in accordance with the terms of 
AIPPA and that, upon its reconstitution, it grant ANZ an 
operating license by November 30.  If the MIC failed to 
comply by this date, ANZ would be deemed registered and 
could start its operations immediately. 
 
3.  (U) Immediately after the judgment was rendered, TDN 
printed an eight-page October 25 edition headlining "We're 
Back!" on the front page and reporting on various other 
news.  The paper printed 100,000 copies that quickly sold 
out. 
 
4.  (SBU) Armed police raided and shut down ANZ's offices 
during the middle of the day on October 25.  They arrested 
18 journalists and other employees working on what would 
have been the October 26 edition of TDNS.  Police in 
Bulawayo on October 26 also arrested Washington Sansole, a 
retired High Court judge and ANZ Board member.  He is being 
held on charges of "publishing without a license."  Police 
in Harare also arrested Tuleto Nkomo, the niece of the ANZ 
Chief Executive Officer Samuel Nkomo (and niece of ruling 
party Chairman John Nkomo), who was the only Nkomo present 
when they visited Nkomo's residence on October 25.  The 30- 
year old niece had no working association with ANZ. 
 
5.  (SBU) As of the afternoon on October 27, police had 
released the journalists without charging them.  Police 
charged the niece under the colonial-era Miscellaneous 
Offences Act and released her after payment of a ZD 10,000 
(USD 2) fine.  Of ANZ's nine directors, five in Harare had 
reported to police and were resisting efforts to have them 
incarcerated on unspecified charges.  Sansole made an urgent 
application to the High Court in Bulawayo for immediate 
release pending arraignment.  The rest of the directors 
reside outside the country.  Armed police have sealed ANZ 
facilities. 
 
6.  (SBU) ANZ lawyers and officials are adamant that 
publishing the October 25 edition was lawful since the 
ruling rendered some of the media regulations under the 
controversial Access to Information and Protection of 
Privacy Act (AIPPA) invalid.  Bolstering their confidence 
was the fact that the MIC's improper constitution meant that 
every registration it issued was technically void, rendering 
all related publications "outlaws," not just the ANZ's.  In 
the view of government lawyers, however, the ANZ jumped the 
gun and was in contempt of court.  To drive its case home, 
the MIC has said it will appeal the ruling, declaring that 
"the court has misdirected itself in ways that are not just 
fundamental but also unprecedented."  Legal sources quoted 
by the government-controlled press predicted a drawn out 
legal case that could drag on for several months while ANZ 
remains unproductive. 
 
 7.  (SBU) COMMENT: The Administrative Court's judgment 
represents yet another Pyrrhic victory for the embattled 
ANZ.  Hoping to avoid having the case bounced back to it 
after a near-certain future MIC determination against ANZ, 
the court took the rare step of not simply remanding the 
case for reconsideration but -- on the ground of clear bias 
-- instructing the Commission to issue the certificate of 
registration.  ANZ's decision to resume publication before 
receiving the ordered certificate may be second-guessed but 
we see no indication that the government will be any more 
likely to permit publication even after November 30, the 
date by which the court commanded its registration.  Appeal 
from the Administrative Court's decision lies with the 
Supreme Court, which already has found once against ANZ in 
the decision that served as pretext for the paper's initial 
shutdown last month. 
 
8.  (SBU) COMMENT (CONT'D):  Behind the scenes, significant 
elements within ZANU-PF quietly want to see ANZ operations 
resume as soon as possible -- in part to counter the 
dominant influence of Information Minister Jonathon Moyo, to 
whose confidence and authority this latest swift police 
action bears testimony.   That the unpopular Moyo continues 
to wield as much power as he does is symptomatic of a 
dysfunctional policy-making environment within the ruling 
party and the pernicious power of those who enjoy Mugabe's 
favor, as Moyo apparently does.