We blogged last week (here) on what appears to be an organized effort by the state to impede Zimbabweans' access to independent news through the confiscation of private FM and shortwave radios in rural areas. The Media Institute for Southern Africa has just released a media alert with an update on the radio seizure issue: a local magistrate has ordered local security officers in Gokwe to retrn the radios to their owners.
We post the entire text of the media update, sent out by email:
Media Alert Update
19 December 2006
State Security Agents Ordered to Return Seized Radios
A Gokwe magistrate has ordered two identified security agents to return the radio receivers they seized from teachers in the area after the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) successfully filed an application for the granting of the provision order. The provisional order which was granted on 16 December 2006 also requires the officer-in-charge at Gokwe police station to serve the application and provisional order on the security agents identified as Mr Mlotshwa and Mr Emmanuel Takadiyi working for the President’s Office.
Rangu Nyamurundira and Dzimbabwe Chimbga of ZLHR represented the teachers.
According to the ZLHR, assistant inspector Dube at Gokwe Police Station refused to serve the court papers, insisting that as a state institution the police could not serve another state institution, which is clearly incorrect and unlawful. The ZLHR lawyers were thus forced to serve the court papers themselves at Government Complex where they met Mr Mlotshwa. Mr Mlotswa initially insisted that the lawyers serve the Minister of State Security instead. He then phoned his superior in Gweru, a Mr. Sigauke, who also insisted on the papers being served on the Minister. The ZLHR lawyers, however, insisted that only the cited state agents had to be served.
The lawyers were subsequently asked to give their personal details, which included their home addresses, contact number, and fathers’ names. After filling in the form Mr Mlotshwa then accepted a copy of the application and provisional order, but refused to accept a copy on behalf of his colleague, Mr Takadiyi, who was away at the time Raymond Majongwe, the secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe told MISA-Zimbabwe on 7 November 2006 that the radios had been confiscated from 17 teachers by persons who identified themselves as working for the President’s Office.
Majongwe said PTUZ bought the short-wave radio receivers for teachers in the area to enable them to keep abreast with developments in the country because of the poor television and radio signals of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings’ broadcasts.
Meanwhile, the ZLHR says it is deeply concerned by the unlawful conduct of the two state agents in forcefully taking private property from the teachers without any legal authority to do so. Such conduct not only violated the teachers’ right to property but also violated their constitutional right to receive information by denying them the use of their radios. These two fundamental human rights are clearly provided for and protected by the Constitution of Zimbabwe and other regional and international human rights instruments to which Zimbabwe is a State Party, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is indeed regrettable that authorities continue to engage in unlawful behaviour in their attempts to prevent the public from seeking information from alternative sources.
ZLHR also strongly condemns the harassment and intimidation of lawyers by state agents while carrying out their legal mandate. ZLHR further condemns the refusal by the police at Gokwe Police Station to serve the court papers as ordered by the Magistrates Court, a clear disregard of a court order amounting to contempt of court ZLHR is also calling upon the Minister of State Security and state agents to stop the illegal and forceful seizure of people’s radios, a clear violation of their right to property and right to receive and share information.
ZLHR further calls upon the Minister of State Security and state agents, including the Zimbabwe Republic Police to respect court orders and desist from frustrating, harassing and intimidating lawyers carrying out their legal duties and seeking to execute court proceedings.
Background:
It was alleged that Mr. Mlotshwa and Mr. Emanuel D Takadiyi, working in the President’s Office at Government Complex in Gokwe went to Simbe Primary School sometime in November 2006 where they are said to have produced a list with names of teachers who had been given “Ranger Freeplay” radios by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ). The two state security agents, identifying themselves as coming from the President’s Office, proceeded to demand that three teachers at the school, Mr Herbert Chigu, Mr. Innocent Mugwagwa and Mr. Elijah Maramba, hand over the radios to them, claiming that it was a national issue. Following the demands and threats of the two agents, Mr. Chigu and Mr. Mugwagwa handed over their radios, while Mr. Maramba was told to bring his radio when schools opened as he had taken it to his village.
On the 2nd of December 2006 the same two state agents proceeded to Njelele Secondary School to forcefully take a similar radio from another teacher, Mr Tadius Masuka. Mr. Masuka’s wife, who was at home at the time, in her husband’s absence, was ordered to hand over the radio, which she did.
Due to lack of transmission sites and depleted stations, only 30 percent of the country receives radio and television coverage from the state-controlled broadcaster while the other 70 percent relies on foreign stations. End
For any questions, queries or comments, please contact:
Nyasha Nyakunu
Research and Information Officer Media Institute of Southern Africa
84 McChlery Ave
Eastlea
P.O Box HR 8113
Harare, Zimbabwe
Cell: 263 11 602 448
Email:misa@mweb.co.zw
Website: www.misazim.co.zw
