Journalists barred from Comesa summit despite High Court order

By Alex Bell
08 June 2009

Four journalists, who last week won a landmark case against the government over the legality of the Media and Information Commission (MIC), were this weekend barred from attending the Comesa summit for not being accredited.

The Information Ministry two weeks ago instructed all journalists wishing to cover the event to register for accreditation with the MIC. The freelance journalists took the state to court over the issue and on Friday, High Court Judge Bharat Patel ruled that the MIC was now a defunct body and as such no journalist in the country was legally required to register with it. The court granted the journalists an interim order barring Information Minister Webster Shamu, his permanent secretary George Charamba, MIC chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso and others, from interfering with the operations of the four journalists in their work.

But the journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealous Mawarire, were on Sunday turned away from the summit venue in Victoria Falls by security details. The security officials insisted that the journalists, despite the production of the High Court order, could not cover the event as they were not on the Information Ministry’s list of journalists accredited to cover the summit. Lawyers for the MIC have also announced that they will appeal against the High Court’s ruling, in a clear sign that media reform in Zimbabwe is still a long way from being achieved.

Meanwhile, during the opening of the Comesa summit that alarmingly resembled a gathering of dictators and criminals, Robert Mugabe called for African countries to increase self-reliance and boost development. Mugabe, who now takes over as leader of Africa’s main trading bloc, also said the continent must raise its international capacity by ‘exploiting’ its mineral resources, rich soil and human skills.

The ageing dictators hypocritical comments have been greeted with shock by observers, as Mugabe has single-handedly destroyed development in Zimbabwe, turning the once productive country into an aid-reliant state. While Mugabe was lecturing his fellow African leaders on the importance of self-reliance, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai embarked on a cross-continental aid-begging tour, to rescue financial relationships that Mugabe’s years of dictatorial abuse destroyed. Meanwhile, outrage still abounds over the involvement of Vice President Joice Mujuru’s daughter, in a trade deal involving illegal gold from the DRC. Could this be the kind of exploitation of natural resources Mugabe stringently called for during his speech?

At the same time, while Mugabe called for an end to conflicts across the continent, Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir, who faces international arrest for war crimes, was welcomed with open arms at the summit this weekend. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in March for Beshir to face five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes over the conflict in Darfur. But the Zimbabwe government defended their welcome of the Sudanese leader, with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa telling media that Zimbabwe has no duty to arrest Beshir as it is not party to the treaty that set up the ICC.

“We are aware that the President of Sudan is under an ICC warrant of arrest
which he disputes. We are not a state party under the Rome Statute. We have
no obligation under the Statute of Rome to execute that obligation,” he
said.