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threatening to close media organisations that do not toe his party’s line should he win the forthcoming harmonised elections.
Officially launching his party’s national policy conference in Harare last Friday, Mr Tsvangirai said he was tired of receiving negative coverage from the public media.
However, media bodies yesterday expressed shock at Mr Tsvangirai’s utterances saying media pluralism and freedom should instead be protected by a man with such a senior position in the inclusive Government.
Mr Tsvangirai is Prime Minister in the inclusive Government.
This is not the first time that PM Tsvangirai has threatened the media as he also told his supporters in Chiredzi recently that his battle was no longer with Zanu-PF, but with The Herald, which he accused of writing damning articles about him.
Said PM Tsvangirai on Friday; “You cannot have a newspaper with six articles saying Tsvangirai this and Tsvangirai that. Every day! Regai vakadaro. But musi umwe gava richadambura musungo. That kind of a media has no future in a democratic Zimbabwe. I want to tell you this. Muchadya izvozvo,” Mr Tsvangirai told delegates.
Mr Tsvangirai’s party also reportedly compiled names of journalists who were put on Western sanctions list for writing in defence of Zimbabwe. Zimpapers editor-in-chief Pikirayi Deketeke, Herald deputy editor Caesar Zvayi, Sunday Mail assistant editor Munyaradzi Huni, ZBC chief correspondent Reuben Barwe, diplomatic correspondent Judith Makwanya, and freelancer Musorowegomo Mukosi were all placed on sanctions.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary general Foster Dongozi, blasted Mr Tsvangirai saying the statement was not expected from an ex-trade union leader.
“We appeal to him to protect the jobs of some journalists and their welfare. We are appealing to him to protect them from today and in the future. If the PM is not happy with the way other media organisations are reporting on him and his party, there are other avenues that he can take to seek recourse and not to threaten to close newspapers,” he said.
Mr Dongozi implored all the political parties in the country to desist from using inflammatory language that could be used by their supporters to unleash violence on preserved enemies and journalists.
He said the PM was supposed to deliver (sound policies) so that the people would then make informed decisions about him.
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“We are alarmed because as journalists, we are always requesting the Government and political parties to be sensitive to the needs of the journalists who are already working under a difficult environment where there are poor conditions of service and threats of violence and even murder.
“We are alarmed if the PM who has a labour movement background makes statements that encourage intolerance and violence. We want the PM to be aware that media diversity is what Zimbabweans have been yearning for long,” he said.
He said ZUJ and other journalists representative bodies in the region were working on draft resolution designed to ensure protection of African journalists while on duty.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) senior programme officer Mr Nyasha Nyakunu, said the media was supposed to be allowed to report on socio-political developments in the country without hindrances.
“Journalists should be allowed to exercise media freedom but in a balanced and fair manner. We do not condone any threats or attacks against media freedom,” said Mr Nyakunu.
Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) chairman Mr Darlington Majonga, refused to comment on PM Tsvangirai’s statements yesterday, but urged people injured by media reportage to write to the commission.
“I urge all Zimbabweans angered by media reportage to write to the Media Council of Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Media Commission, whose job is to deal with such complaints from members of the public,” he said.
All was not rosy for PM Tsvangirai as the party’s traditional ally, the ZCTU said MDC-T’s ministers and policy failures were at variance with the needs of workers the party claims that were its bedrock.
While giving a solidarity message at the policy launch ZCTU secretary-general Mr Japhet Moyo — who holds the same post MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai held before abandoning workers for politics — blasted the MDC-T component of Government for being vague on policy and arrogant in approach to the needs of workers.
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