THE Minister of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is on a bilateral visit to Mozambique, yesterday refused to be intimida-ted by a drunken bunch of six media and political activists who wanted to have him stopped from addressing Mozam-bican journalists.
Prof Moyo, who arrived in Maputo on Wednesday where he has been holding high level meetings with senior Government and media officials, was scheduled to address Mozambican journalists at their Press Club on various issues on Zimbabwe.
However, before the meeting started, a group of six rowdy demonstrators started chanting anti-Zimbabwe slogans disrupting the meeting.
The group demanded that Prof Moyo should leave the Press Club and not address them accusing him of closing down the Daily News and causing the arrest of journalists.
The Daily News was shut down last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the newspaper was operating illegally because it was not registered with the Media and Information Commission in terms of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Journalists at the paper resolved not to work until they were accredited with the MIC.
Journalists who have been arrested in the country have been arrested for either writing falsehoods or breaching the country's laws.
Despite efforts by Mozambican officials to calm the protestors and ask them to raise whatever concerns they had with Prof Moyo, the group did not want to give the minister an opportunity to engage them in dialogue.
About 20 other journalists who had come for the meeting also failed to reason with the protestors.
The protestors were said to be working for an organisation selling faxed sheets for newspapers and are generally regarded as a joke in Maputo.
Prof Moyo, who sat throughout the 30 to 45 minutes it took to hold the meeting, was completely unmoved by the intimidation and refused to leave the Press Club.
The group was finally ejected from the meeting room by other Mozambican media practitioners but it was already too late for Prof Moyo to proceed with the Press conference as he was expected to meet members of the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Friendship Association.
Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozam-bique Mr David Hamadziripi said:
"What we have witnessed here is a travesty of the Press freedom that they claim to be championing.
"Such pseudo democrats must be condemned and have no place in a democratic society.
"They missed a golden opportunity to be fully informed and briefed on the real situation in Zimbabwe rather than relying on stories concocted and manufactured by Zimbabwe's detractors."
Before the fiasco at the Press Club, Prof Moyo had had a half-hour interview with Radio Mozambique and several others with the country's television.
In the interviews, he explained the situation in Zimbabwe and the negative stories that were being generated by media institutions aligned to Britain, the United States and the apartheid South African media that was opposed to Zimbabwe's land reform.
The minister's visit to Mozambique was primarily aimed at exploring ways through which the media in Zimbabwe and Mozambique could be able to report on issues affecting the two countries through their own eyes rather than rely on western news agencies and other such media.
Prof Moyo was accompanied by media executives from Zimbabwe Newspapers, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and New Ziana and these had successful joint venture agreements with their Mozambican counterparts.
Zimpapers and Mozambique's biggest newspaper group Noticios entered into an agreement to jointly market and produce the regional New Sunday Times as well as exchange journalists and stories.
A similar agreement was reached by Newsnet and Mozambique Television and Radio to share news stories and resources.
ZTV and Mozambique Television agreed to launch an inaugural Zimba-bwe-Mozambique musical gala that will be transmitted live in both countries some time this year.
New Ziana renewed its co-operation agreement with AIM to share news stories, technology, personnel and facilitate the training of their journalists.
Prof Moyo is expected to meet the secretary-general of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), Mr Armando Guebuza, this morning before signing a memorandum of understanding with his Mozambican counterpart.
During his visit, he held talks with Mozambique's Prime Minister Luisa Diogo on relations between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Fonte: AIM
