[Mugabe does not like the truth about his failed rotten Black Communist Tin Pot nation getting out into the wide world… So he tries to find, what few journalists are left… to shut them the hell up. Jan]

From Zim Online, 3 February

State secret agents sniff out journalists stringing for foreign media

Harare – The government’s secret service Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is investigating several journalists it accuses of working with foreign media and hostile countries to tarnish Zimbabwe’s image abroad. Sources within the CIO yesterday said that a decision to probe the media was taken at a meeting of senior operatives of the agency held in Harare last week. Journalists targeted for investigation are those working for international news agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and those suspected of working for Zim Online and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the sources said. Zim Online is based in Johannesburg because it cannot operate in Zimbabwe where the government’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) outlaws robust and independent journalism. Zim Online employs more than 20 journalists based inside Zimbabwe but all working under cover for fear of victimisation by state security agents. The BBC is officially banned in Zimbabwe.

One CIO officer, who did not want to be named, said: “There are journalists who are making a living by selling damaging information to our enemies and it was resolved that they should account for their actions. A probe team involving intelligence officers and guys from law and order (a police department) is already working on that.” State Security Minister Nicholas Goche, in charge of the CIO, refused to take questions on the matter saying “issues about intelligence work are not for public consumption.” Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary general Foster Dongozi condemned the probing of journalists by the secret service saying it was an attempt to intimidate and muzzle the media. “Journalists in Zimbabwe are already under siege and we strongly condemn this latest attempt to further intimidate us,” said Dongozi. He added: “As journalists, we are going to mobilise our members and friends of the profession against any further attempts to muzzle us.” Zimbabwe is ranked among the most repressive environments for journalists in the world. In the last three years, hundreds of journalists have been arrested and three newspapers including the country’s biggest and only independent daily, the Daily News, were shut down by the government.

Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com