State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 • Please visit www.misa.org for information on media freedom violations in Zimbabwe. The website includes extensive information on the closure of The Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, an action which MISA continues to protest. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is a regional non governmental organisation, committed to the promotion of free, independent, diverse and pluralistic media in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). MISA is a membership-based organisation with national offices in 11 SADC countries, including Namibia. Press Statement November 15, 2003 TOPIC: Human rights violations in Zimbabwe T he Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and its Namibian chapter (MISA Namibia) on Saturday, November 15, 2003, supported the call of a coalition of Human Rights organisations in Namibia to join in a public demonstration against the ongoing human rights violations in Zimbabwe. MISA reiterated this urgent call to action to all media workers in Namibia to use the opportunity to show solidarity with their counterparts in Zimbabwe. Following is a press statement, delivered at the public demonstration in the Zoo Park, central Windhoek, by Ms. Dorinda Mwarania, the national director of MISA Namibia. PRESS STATEMENT November 15, 2003 O n May 30, 1986, the government of Zimbabwe ratified the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights whose Article 9 (1) provides that “Every individual shall have the right to receive information”. Today the people of Zimbabwe are denied this right, following the closure of The Daily News and Daily News on Sunday more than two months ago on September 12, 2003, by the government. These are the largest independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, with a readership of over one million Zimbabweans. In addition, over 300 employees of these newspapers, and hundreds others benefiting from downstream and upstream activities from these publications, are today denied their jobs and a means of exercising their right to employment and a decent livelihood. Since the enactment of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) in early 2002, over 100 media practitioners from the private media sector have been arbitrarily arrested and/or detained under these draconian laws, which make it virtually impossible for free and independent media to operate in Zimbabwe and for Zimbabweans to freely associate and express themselves. MISA therefore calls on the government of Zimbabwe to abolish the Media and Information Commission, appointed by the Minister of State and Information, Jonathan Moyo, to enforce a repressive licensing system for media organisations and individual journalists. Furthermore, MISA calls on the government of Zimbabwe to allow the Zimbabwean media to set up a self-regulatory mechanism, as agreed among themselves more than two years ago. In solidarity with all Zimbabweans, MISA appeals to all media practitioners, human rights activists and other Namibian citizens concerned about the human rights situation in ZimbaSo This Is Democracy? 2003 136 Media Institute of Southern Africa