Unknown assailants on 23 May 2008 waylaid and set ablaze a truck-load of 60 000 copies of The Zimbabwean on Sunday newspaper and assaulted its driver Christmas Ramabulana, a South African national and distribution assistant Tapfumaneyi Kancheta.

Ramabulana and Kancheta were stopped 67 km from Zimbabwe’s southern town of Masvingo and forced to drive along the Chivi-Mandamabwe road for 16 km before turning into Mandamabwe Road where the truck and its contents were set alight.

 According to Wilf Mbanga, the publisher of The Zimbabwean on Sunday and its stablemate The Zimbabwean, the two were severely assaulted before being dumped in the bush. Mbanga noted that the incident comes hard on the heels of remarks by Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Emmerson Mnangagwa blaming The Zimbabwean for Zanu PF’s electoral defeat in the 29 March 2008 elections. He said Ramabulana and Kancheta could not give details of what transpired as they were in severe shock.

  “We condemn this barbaric attack against our staff and the newspaper and vow to leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators of this atrocity are brought to book,” he said.

  MISA Position

MISA-Zimbabwe condemns in the strongest terms possible this unwarranted onslaught on the citizens’ right to access alternative information and ideas through publications such as The Zimbabwean on Sunday.

 These acts of lawlessness and disregard for human life continue at a time when the country is preparing for the 27 June 2008 presidential election run-off raising mounting fears that the high stakes contest between President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirayi will not be free and fair in the wake of the determined efforts to shut out any form of dissent and opposing views.

 This is a serious breach of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration which stresses that the establishment and maintain an independent, pluralist and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation. The Declaration of which Zimbabwe is a signatory, defines the establishment of a pluralist media as bringing to an end monopolies of any kind and the existence of “the greatest possible number of newspapers, magazines and periodicals reflecting the widest possible range of opinion within the community”.

MISA-Zimbabwe notes with great concern that with the closure of The Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, The Tribune and Weekly Times under the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Zimbabwean government appears even more determined to muzzle opposing views in its contemptuous disregard of its obligations as espoused under the Windhoek Declaration and other international conventions and charters that it has willingly but deceptively ratified.

 The responsible authorities should therefore demonstrate their commitment to dealing with these wanton endemic acts of violence by bringing the perpetrators to book and ensure the safety and security of journalists especially those working for the private media ahead of the presidential election run-off. Anything short of that will only serve to further dent the country’s worsening human rights record.