Zimbabwe’s independent media say it is in no one’s interests for crucial
talks to take place out of the public eye.

Journalists in Zimbabwe are seething with anger at a blanket ban on
negotiators talking to the media while talks are under way between President
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
MDC.

The talks, scheduled to last a fortnight, opened in Pretoria, South Africa
on July 24, but the memorandum of understanding signed three days earlier
made it clear the dialogue was to remain confidential.

Clause 8 of the document says specifically states that as long as the talks
are going on, neither side should “directly or indirectly communicate the
substance of the discussion” to the media, nor should they use the media as
a negotiating platform.

Media representatives who spoke to IWPR complained that this provision was
tantamount to stifling freedom of expression, as well as denying Zimbabweans
the right to information about a process that could decide their future.

Iden Wetherell, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum, said
denying reporters access to information about the talks was “unhealthy and
unacceptable”.

“There should be intense debate in the media around the issues contained on
the MoU,” he said. “The MoU has been made public, so as editors we believe
it should be debated in public. There should be frequent briefings on what
is going on behind closed doors. The public have a right to comment on it
and on other issues.”

Wetherell said the editors’ forum believed reporters should not be shut out,
especially since the agenda for the talks suggested that a new government
look at media as a priority issue. Current legislation covering media and
communications is restrictive so any change will be a matter of interest to
journalists themselves.

“The media has legitimate concerns, for instance the tough media laws and
the issue of the public media, which has a duty to inform the nation but
abuses it. Currently the public media parrots only the voice of the
incumbent,” he said.

Foster Dongozi, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, ZUJ,
agreed, saying, “The media is being denied access to information. It is
totally unacceptable. We will not be able to know what they are plotting
about our future as journalists and the media.”

During negotiations late last year, the MDC and ZANU-PF agreed amendments
slightly softening the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act -
a tough law used to restrict media rights since 2001. But as Dongozi said,
there was no consultation with media stakeholders when the parties agreed
this deal.

In the current round of talks, he said, “We need to know what’s going on,
especially if there are discussions on media law reform.”

In 2003, the information and privacy law was used to close down the popular
Daily News and its sister paper The Daily News on Sunday, The Tribune and
The Weekly Times.

The closure of these newspapers dealt a severe blow to the MDC, which is
covered unfavourably in the state-owned newspapers and the public Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation. The Broadcasting Services Act has allowed
government to perpetuate the monopoly enjoyed by ZBC, an institution the
opposition accuses of naked bias.

Loughty Dube, who heads the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of
Southern Africa, a regional watchdog, welcomed the signing of the MoU but
insisted that negotiators should ensure the “transitional process” enjoyed
public confidence.

“This can only be achieved in an environment that immediately allows
citizens to enjoy their fundamental right to freedom of expression,
association, assembly, access to information and media freedom,” said Dube.

Citing the need to end harassment, arrest and assaults against journalists,
to repeal repressive laws and to allow unrestricted reporting in Zimbabwe,
Dube said media freedom must in future be enshrined in a new constitution.

Despite attempts to starve them of infomation, journalists working for
independent media in Zimbabwe look set to continue reporting on the talks
process as best they can.

“The parties to the negotiations want to turn journalists and the media into
fiction writers,” said Nelson Chenga, a journalist with the privately owned
Financial Gazette “Naturally we will speculate due to the gravity of the
talks, which is a historic event that holds the key to the Zimbabwe crisis.”

According to Wetherall, “Nothing should be hidden from the public. The media
have a duty to inform the population of what is happening behind those
closed doors in Pretoria.

Attempting to silence the media, he said, would merely encourage
“disinformation, half-truths and speculation, which is not very helpful at
all”.

Jabu Shoko is the pseudonym of a reporter in Zimbabwe.