Enemies of the state
Some time in May 2008 I was among a group of journalists who were detained at a police roadblock just outside the capital Harare. Our crime was that we had sought to expose state sponsored violence against opposition activists. We were travelling with five diplomatic missions who had decided to go into rural Mashonaland Central province to investigate cases of state sponsored human rights abuses against supporters of the then opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
This was after the historic March 2008 elections in which the then ruling ZANU PF party led by President Robert Mugabe had for the first time ever lost an election to the opposition. Zimbabweans paid dearly for this and ZANU PF waged a retribution campaign against opposition supporters in Zimbabwe’s rural areas. Houses of opposition supporters were razed to the ground. Hundreds of people were killed, tortured, maimed and women raped as punishment for voting for the opposition.
Notebook and pen in hand...using my power as a journalist to be the voice of the voiceless in rural Zimbabwe.
Many fled to Harare for safety. Journalists and diplomats had gone to investigate and reveal all this. Our visit took us to a torture camp run by ZANU PF militia in rural Mvurwi where perpetrators fled from the glare of the media. From the torture camp we visited a nearby farm compound where some women unashamedly lifted their skirts and dresses to show us their wounds and injuries. They testified that they had been beaten up in the camp we had just visited. From there we visited two hospitals where survivors of various acts of brutality lay fighting for their lives.
Those recovering forgot about their pain and got up from bed to share their horrific experiences. One could see each of the journalists choking on our questions as we went on with our interviews. They wanted the world to know about their ordeals in order to pressure government to stop the abuses. This was exactly what ZANU PF wanted to prevent. Within a few minutes of arriving at Mvurwi hospital the place was already swarming with uniformed and plain clothes state security agents.
One overzealous state agent declared that everyone was under arrest. But while the envoys were arguing with the state security agents, one of them received a phone call. We learnt after he hung up that the standoff at the hospital was actually being reported on Cable News Network (CNN). The order was arrest the journalist who had tipped the CNN of the story! But who? There were about 10 of us?
In clear defiance of the police the then US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, marched towards the hospital gate, opened it and ordered everyone out. The police just stood there stupefied by the ambassador’s audacity. That’s how we managed to escape from that potentially dangerous situation, but we were not out of danger. On our way back to Harare we were yet again detained at a police roadblock. The order was arrest the diplomats and journalists who were feeding foreign agencies with news from Zimbabwe.
After much negotiation the police details were willing to trade: give us the journalists and the envoys are free to go. Upon hearing this I felt my stomach tighten in fear. I was afraid the envoys would release us to avoid a diplomatic standoff. Fortunately the envoys would have none of that. Then there was another phone call with news that the roadblock detention was again being reported on CNN! Oh my God this would only make things worse for us, I said to myself. More negotiations, more arguing, more threats…I thought it would never end. However, after a while another phone call came in: the order was release them all! It appeared reason had finally prevailed in someone up there in government. We were escorted and ordered not to stop anywhere else – not even for the call of nature – until we got to Harare.
I think this experience should have been a lesson for those trying to muzzle the media; that in this world of technology you cannot stop the trade of news. Using draconian laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to create an information blackout has not fully succeeded after all. President Mugabe has closed down newspapers, expelled foreign news agencies but has not been able to stop news from Zimbabwe going international. And for us Zimbabwean journalists the struggle continues.
Bertha Shoko
The Standard
Zimbabwe