BBC ban was illegal:official

Published: December 22, 2009

Harare(ZimEye)The seven-year ban by Zimbabwe on the British Broadcasting Corporation and and other international media houses was never formalized on paper, a senior official has said.
Deputy media, information and publicity ministry deputy director and personal aide to minister Webster Shamu, Simbabrashe Tavengerwei revealed this during an explosive meeting with independent film and television producers.
“We heard that CNN, BBC and others had been banned and we believed it. But recently when the BBC wanted to come back and we sought to regularize their position we discovered that there were no records. We talked to them (BBC) and asked them to produce the letters banning them but there was nothing on paper. Someone may have said something to them and they went away. It was really the work of an individual,” Tavengerwei said.

He did not name the ‘individual’ responsible but those present took it that he meant axed information minister Jonathan Moyo, who threw out numerous correspondents and banned newspapers under the ‘draconian’ AIPPA law that he created. Others also say that the president’s spokesman, George Charamba (pictured) then carried on from where Moyo had left, perpetuating the ban.

The admission that the ban on the BBC and others was not according to Zimbabwe’s own laws could clear the way for correspondents who were expelled to file civil suits against Harare, return to work in the country or just to clear their names of wrongdoing. Some of the journalists were accused of being spies.

Among the most prominent deportees were Joseph Winter (BBC), Andrew Meldrum (The Guardian, UK) and David Blair of The Telegraph, UK. Winter was saved by colleagues after Central Intelligence Organisation operatives attempted to abduct him from his Greendale home at midnight. Meldrum was thrown out in defiance of a High Court order allowing him to stay.

Zimbabweans Basildon Peta and Carol Gombakomba were also banned from the country but it is unclear if the orders were lawful.

The ban on foreign correspondents dealt a serious blow to Zimbabweans who are starved of local news by regular government crackdowns on the independent media. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

9 Comments on "BBC ban was illegal:official"

Tsoko Murehwa on Mon, 21st Dec 2009 10:29 pm

this guy needs a bath.

Mugabe employed as spokesman a guy who does not bath

jj mugadzaweta on Tue, 22nd Dec 2009 10:17 am

what else do you expect from a bulldog like charamba. ndoi imbwa hora yakarehwa netsumo iyoyi.

MZO FASI on Tue, 22nd Dec 2009 2:13 pm

ZANU IS MADE UP OF UNCIVILZED AND MOST PRIMITIVE PERSONS EVER TO WLAK THIS EARTH. THESE ARE SIMPLETONS THAT WERE HERO-WORSHIPPED BY FOOLS FOR DOING BUT DIVIDE PEOPLE ALONG TRIBAL LINES SO AS TO CLUTCH ON TO POWER INDIFINITELY AND LOOT STATE RESOURCES. I WONDER WHERE THE SO EDUCATED BABONS THAT GRACED THE STAGE THEN WENT TO. MOST OF THESE PRISON EDUCATED FOOLS ARE NOTHING BUT VERMIN THAT SHOULD BE RELEGATED TO THE SEWER WHERE THEY BELONG.

dhongi donkey on Tue, 22nd Dec 2009 4:19 pm

ohh u guys u are wrong l dont see any reason for defending bbc and cnn in our country in whose intrest do they report for where do they get the monies to pay all their staff around the world ,u people u need to sit down and think well ,we dont want people who think they are now bigger because they are in diaspora ,whats so special kugara ku diaspora ,are u happy kugara muma flats amurikugara ikoko,open your eyes and c the light ,of course we are having challenges ,but let me tell u MURUNGU HAAMBOFE AKADA MUNHU MUTEMA NO MATTER WHAT

tarzan on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 2:17 am

@dhongi

how do you know about the flats we are living in. only someone who has been to diaspora knows how we liv here. waitsvakei?

dhongi donkey on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 11:07 am

tarzen dai wambomira l bet with u kuno kuzimbsbwe u never stayed in a flat but ikweyo u are staying in a flat ,now tell me are u happy with the life u are living there ,tell me the truth,l u happy with the work u are doing there ,are u satisfied about the treatment u are being given there ,as a black person ,are u happy seeing your own zimbabwean relatives requering visas to come there wheres varungu vanongokwira ndege vachienda any destination of there choice u are happy about that ,toda chokwadi tarzain,of course zvimwe vanoedzawo zvawo but the way they treat black people its not the same way we treat them l hope urikunyatsonzwisisa

Comrade on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 2:58 pm

is this site for mdc-t or what???All people seems to be interested in mdc-t,this small party

Serpent Senior on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 7:43 pm

Hey Comrade. Contibute with your mouth shut. You have too much a shut mind and a loud mouth.

Serpent Senior on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 7:44 pm

Imi vanhu veZANU you want everyone to sing praise songs for you, but when you see others who don’t sing your chorus, you say they are MDC.

Tinyareiwo nhaika!

BBC ban was illegal:official

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