In its edition of 24 March 2008, the state-controlled daily, The Chronicle, named the organisations and journalists who write for foreign news organisations as having attended a meeting in Pretoria as part of the “clandestine preparations” for the elections.

 Ironically, the paper mentions that the “clandestine” meeting was in fact a conference of which the key issue on the agenda was: The state of the media in Zimbabwe and the upcoming elections.

However, MISA-Zimbabwe would like to state that its activities and positions on issues pertaining to media freedom and freedom of expression rights as espoused in its vision and mission statements have always been publicly stated through our statements, communiqués, alerts system and outreach programmes. All of MISA Zimbabwe's activities are above board and have in no way been 'clandestine' or out of public scrutiny.

 Having said this,  MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates that it  has an obvious  interest in the coverage of the elections  as they relate to the SADC Principles and Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic elections of which our findings, comments and observations will always be publicly stated through our statements, communiqués or interviews with the media and other interest groups within the context of media freedom and freedom of expression.