Zimbabwean authorities have issued an operating licence to a local newspaper group forced to close down by the state five years ago, a move which suggests the new unity government intends to open up the media.
A special committee set up by the Information Ministry nearly two years ago said the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) was free to resume operations, according to zimguardian.com. ANZ's newspapers Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday, were banned in 2003 after they were accused of breaching media registration laws.
A special board committee on ANZ, appointed by the information ministry in November 2007, Thursday last wrote to the company’s lawyers,Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans, and Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu saying the application for registration for the newspaper stable was successful, zimguardian.com reported.
This came as parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) shortlisted 28 applicants for public interviews on Monday to sit on the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) — a body that will be charged with the powers to regulate the media. “This letter serves to advise you that your application for registration as a mass media service provider was successful,” the committee’s acting chairperson, Edward Dube, wrote to the lawyers. “Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe is therefore advised to contact the relevant authority for their licence,” Dube added.
“The green light for the Daily News, a day after the BBC and CNN were told they could reopen bureaux, is an historic turning point for press freedom in Zimbabwe and ends six years of intolerance and injustice,” Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. “We cannot wait to see this daily on the newsstands again.”
Former Daily News journalist Guthrie Munyuki told RSF, “We greet this news with a great deal of satisfaction and we hope the Zimbabwean government will never close privately-owned independent newspapers again. We also clearly hope that this marks the start of a new era in which free expression is respected in our country.”
The Daily News was the target of several bombings and several of its journalists were arrested before it was finally banned on September 12, 2003 by the Media and Information Commission (MIC). Thereafter, the authorities always managed to prevent it from starting up again despite several court rulings in its favour. It was awarded the Reporters Without Borders – Fondation de France press freedom prize in December 2003.
