Zimbabwe passes draconian media law

Parliament in Zimbabwe passed an amended version of a repressive media law last night after its legal committee withdrew an adverse report against the Bill.

The Parliamentary Legal Committee chairman, Eddison Zvobgo, said the most objectionable elements had been removed from the final version of the Bill.

There were reports, however, that Mr Zvobgo, who had earlier described the Bill as the worst-ever attack on the liberties of Zimbabweans, had been threatened into submission. According to sources, Mr Zvobgo had been told that nobody could stand in President Robert Mugabe's way as he had done and still expect to survive.

The final version of the Bill was described by media organisations as being as draconian as the original draft.

It still bans foreign journalists from working in Zimbabwe except for short periods to cover specific events. Journalists have to be licensed and all media institutions are required to be registered. The Bill prescribes heavy jail sentences for journalists who defy its provisions, particularly its restrictions on the coverage of information held by government departments. Opposition MPs were baffled by the parliamentary committee's decision to withdraw its highly critical report. They said the final version of the Bill was just the same as the previous ones.

The information minister, Jonathan Moyo, defended the Bill. He accused British journalists who covered Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections in June 2000 of assembling villagers and asking them to engage in stage-managed violence so that they could get "good copy".

Journalists' unions said they would continue with their fight against the law and would defy its strict rules. Three journalists who were arrested on Wednesday after police broke up a peaceful protest by reporters against the Bill were released yesterday without being charged. Lawyers said the police had indicated that they would now hunt for the organisers of the demonstration and use the three journalists as state witnesses.

Meanwhile Mr Mugabe and the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, formally entered the race for Zimbabwe's presidency yesterday.

The election, to be held on 9 and 10 March, comes while Zimbabwe is in its biggest political and economic crisis.

Mr Tsvangirai said that oppressive new security laws violated the "spirit of free campaigning" and that large areas of the countryside were shut off to opposition workers by ruling party militants.

But he added: "We are confident we have overwhelming support on the ground."

The justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, filed Mr Mugabe's nomination papers, declaring that the ruling Zanu-PF party would "overcome attempts by Britain, the European Union, the United States and white Rhodesians who want to install [their chosen] government".

The government also applauded the Commonwealth's decision to reject a British call to suspend Zimbabwe.

But many commentators said the Commonwealth had given Mr Mugabe the green light to continue with his violent policies. A respected analyst, Lovemore Madhuku, said: "I agree with all those saying the Commonwealth has given Mugabe a blank cheque to continue with his policies of murder and ruin."