Cry for media and civil society freedom in Zimbabwe

Civil society and independent media organisations in southern Africa should encourage the spirit of activism and defend their actions by resisting severe restrictions.

It is of great concern to note that Zimbabwe still pushes further with NGO bill and restrictions on the independence of the press. These restrictive provisions are of concerns for registration of foreign non-governmental organisations including the press.

In the period moving closer to the formation of the new unity government, civil society and the media has been accused of unpatriotic and hostile to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

Now that Zimbabwe want to promote the values directed at the governance of the new unity government, both ZANU-PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) whom its leader and current Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are turning to civil society and the press to protect and promote these principles of a new hegemony.

The recent travel of Morgan Tsvangirai to United State of America and other part of the world is a perfect example to further normalise and expand the newly formed government of Zimbabwe. However, it should be considered that they are still laws adopted and implemented which does not free space for civil society and the media to operate.

It is for this reason that, the Peole of the South blogspace is calling on social movements, NGOs, communities, the general media and civil society in the global South to push the new unity government to move faster in the adoption of new constitution which will embrace and enact media and non-governmental organisations rights fin building a health public life. The right to communicate should be viewed as citizens' fundemental human rights as egual to the right to education.