State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 O n November 12 2003, the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, filed a High Court application seeking an order to resume operations. The ANZ asked the court to order the Media and Information Commission (MIC) to allow the newspaper group to resume publishing pending the outcome of the MIC’s appeal of an Administrative Court ruling. • DATE: November 18, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Stuart Mattinson, Brian Mutsau, Rachel Kupara (targets: media worker(s) , newspaper(s) , organisation(s) , publisher(s) VIOLATIONS: Detained (charged) O n November 14 2003, the Magistrate Court dismissed an application by four Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) directors, in which they asked the court to drop the charges laid against them. The four directors - Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Stuart Mattinson, Brian Mutsau and Rachel Kupara - are to appear in court on February 6 2004 for a routine hearing pending a trial date. Harare Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe dismissed their application, saying there was “reasonable suspicion” that the directors had committed an offence. Guvamombe also rejected the four directors’ argument that they could not be charged in their capacity as directors. • DATE: November 18, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Shadreck Pongo VIOLATIONS: Beaten, censored O n November 18 2003, Shadreck Pongo, a photojournalist with The Standard newspaper, was severely beaten and injured by police officers in Harare while covering a nationwide demonstration organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Riot police apprehended Pongo while he was taking photographs of demonstrators. They pulled him into a police truck, where they assaulted him with police batons. The police seized the photojournalist’s camera and destroyed it before dumping Pongo at the city centre’s periphery. He was rushed to Harare’s Avenues Hospital, where he is receiving medical attention. • DATE: November 18, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Andrew Moyse VIOLATIONS: Other O n November 19 2004, Andrew Moyse, director of the Media Monitoring Project of Zim babwe, and seven other civic leaders were arrested during a nation-wide demonstration organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). They were detained at Harare’s central police station and are expected to appear in court on November 20. • DATE: December 8, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Bright Chibvuri VIOLATIONS: Beaten, censored O n November 30 2003, Bright Chibvuri, an editor for The Worker newspaper, was kid napped by alleged Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) youths and state security agents in Kadoma, approximately 292 kilometres from the capital, Harare. So This Is Democracy? 2003 129 Media Institute of Southern Africa