Mugabe criticises media

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has lashed out at his critics in the media during a weekend rally of his ruling ZANU-PF party. Media sources told IRIN that Mugabe also indicated his government would “rethink” their policy of reconciliation towards Zimbabwe’s former white rulers. They also said there were indications of further restrictions on the country’s privately owned media which in recent have been critical of government policy, especially the country’s military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A Reuters dispatch quoted Mugabe as saying: “They (the private media) are out to tarnish our party, our country, our government and my leadership but we will not let them get away with it.” The ‘Zimbabwe Herald’ reported Mugabe “lamented” the lack of “political heritage” of young Zimbabweans and said they were falling victim to the “propaganda” of “die-hard Rhodesians”, a reference to the country’s former white rulers.