Journalists harassed as crackdown on Daily News continues

Police in Zimbabwe on Thursday released a list of 45 Daily News staffers whom they instructed to report to Harare Central Police Station. The list included past and present Daily News employees and journalists, all of whom applied for accreditation, but whose applications were not forwarded to the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) because the publishers of the country's only independent daily newspaper - Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) - were challenging the constitutionality of the Access to Information and Protection and Privacy Act (AIPPA). Journalists who failed to register at all are not included on the list. By mid-afternoon on Thursday, 15 of the company's Harare-based reporters were still having their statements recorded at Harare Central Police station. "The list was submitted at The Daily News offices about 11 am [by the police], and a message was passed on to say all those on the list should report to Harare Central Police Station. It includes the names of reporters in all four bureaux of Bulawayo, Gewru, Mutare and Masvingo, so there are 15 reporters in all here," a journalist on the phone from the police station told IRIN. The situation in the bureaux was still tense but normal by mid-afternoon, with reporters anticipating police raids on the provincial offices. It was not possible to reach any of the Daily News management for comment, as they were said to be preparing for a board meeting to be held on Friday in Johannesburg, South Africa. Although the agenda for the Johannesburg meeting was not immediately available, the board is expected to discuss the newspaper's options, should the Administrative Court rule in favour of the State. Earlier this week the ANZ group applied to the Administrative Court for the MIC's ruling that the organisation and its reporters would not be allowed to register be overturned, saying the decision was unlawful and unconstitutional. The ANZ group argued that the MIC was improperly constituted, as no associations of media houses and journalists were consulted when it was appointed. Meanwhile, the ANZ director of operations, Innocent Kurwe, and the Daily News editor, Nqobile Nyathi, are expected to address workers at all the bureaux about the latest developments and the way forward from Monday next week. Police raided the Daily News offices and printing works to stop production on 12 September, a day after the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe ruled that ANZ was operating illegally. Police occupied the Daily News premises and confiscated all the computers from its Harare head office. Although some of the equipment was returned last week after ANZ secured a court order compelling the police to do so, more computers were seized after the police and the attorney-general's office won another ruling which cancelled the earlier order. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena announced on Tuesday that the police were keen to interrogate all the journalists whose articles had appeared in the Daily News and its sister publication, the Daily News on Sunday, between January and the day of the ruling. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) has since condemned the harassment of the journalists as yet another blow to the establishment of a free press and democratic governance in the region. In a statement on Thursday the NGO coalition, Crisis in Zimbabwe, called upon all Zimbabweans "who value democracy to join in the campaign to demand the resuscitation of the Daily News".