Local Private Media Barred From ZANU PF Congress

ZANU PF has refused to accredit journalists from privately-owned local publications among them NewsDay, The NewsHawks, and NewZimbabwe accusing them of bias.

Party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa on Wednesday said the ZANU PF Politburo resolved to bar NewsDay from covering the event. He said:

For your own information, we have not refused anyone registration except for one particular publication which we feel prefers to write fiction rather than to follow events at the party, if we invite them they will also write fiction.

So, this is where we are. Even the Voice of America will be there and even foreign correspondents.

We have no problem with critical journalism but we don’t tolerate invented stories when we have Press conferences. We also need to be criticised but not on fictitious stories.

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ZANU PF information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the matter was discussed in the Politburo because it is a serious one. Said Mugwadi:

The matter was an issue in the politburo. When this is discussed in the politburo then it’s a serious issue and a cause for concern. I think this is the time for the publication to reflect.

State security officers recently expelled Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) journalists from a State House event.

AMH publishes The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and NewsDay/Southern Eye, a daily publication. | NewsDay