State of the media in Southern Africa - 2004 January 2, 2004. Mahoso said this in an article he wrote in the government-owned “The Herald” on January 13. In the article, which he called an “open letter” to Iden Wetherell. Mahoso castigated Wetherell for allowing the publication of a letter to the editor, in which the writer called “Zimbabweans an unthinking lot”. Mahoso said that publication of the letter is a clear indication that Wetherell “supported racist motives and the vilification of blacks in Zimbabwe.” Mahoso’s letter reads that “consistent with its powers and functions, as outlined in the Section 39 Subsection (b), (h), (j) and (o) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIIPA), the Media and Information Commission (MIC) deplores the increasing toleration and apparent encouragement of open expressions of racist attitudes and images through the press”. “And because this trend appears to be growing among certain media houses and editors in Zimbabwe and within some SADC neighbours, the MIC feels compelled to publicise its response to one particular offensive letter to the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent published on January 2, 2004.” “The letter you published on January 2, 2004 is typical of the worst expressions of racism from the former slave territories of the United States, from apartheid South Africa and from the days of UDI in Rhodesia.” Mahoso added: “the fact that this is supposed to be an individual’s letter expressing individual opinion does not in any way exonerate the editor or the publisher”. Mahoso said that the publication “of this offensive letter called for drastic action”. • ALERT Date: February 5, 2004 Persons/Institutions: Media in Zimbabwe Violation(s): Legislation On February 5 2004, the Zimbabwe Supreme court ruled that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) is constitutional, casting a dark shadow over the future of the independent media in Zimbabwe. In his ruling, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said that sections 79, 83 and 85 of AIPPA are constitutional. The sections provide for accreditation of journalists, outlaws practising journalism without accreditation and empower a government appointed body, the Media and Information Commission (MIC), to develop and enforce a code of conduct respectively. • ALERT Date: March 19, 2004 Persons/Institutions: Simon Bright Violation(s): Detained On March 19 2004, a Zimbabwean independent film maker Simon Bright was arrested on allegations of having participated in the production of a BBC documentary, Panorama, which focused on Zimbabwe’s controversial national youth training service. Bright was arrested at the Harare International Airport as he tried to board an Air Zimbabwe flight to London. He was detained for the weekend by police and questioned on whether he worked for “outside broadcasters. Bright was asked whether he was involved in making a BBC’s Panorama programme that claimed thousands of Zimbabwean youths are being trained in special camps to torture and intimidate opponents of President Robert Mugabe’s government. Police were “unable to say what was offensive” about the tape, adding that various government departments were involved in the making of the documentary. So This Is Democracy? 2004 145 Media Institute of Southern Africa