MAZ protests against China attack

THE Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) has written to the Chinese embassy expressing concern over its recent attacks on a Zimbabwean journalist and columnist, Tawanda Majoni.

It recommended that the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) must investigate the attacks.

The MAZ brings together several media-oriented civil society organisations that include Misa-Zimbabwe, Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ), Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Zimbabwe Association of Community Radios and Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum.

The embassy recently circulated the statements through its website as well as the local independent and government-controlled media after Majoni wrote an opinion article in The Standard newspaper querying the Zimbabwean government’s decision to re-admit Anjin Investments to mine diamonds in Marange.

In his article that was published in August this year, Majoni pointed out that it was not prudent for the government to take back Anjin—a partnership between the Zimbabwean military and Anhui, a Chinese company—after it was evicted for allegedly smuggling diamonds out of the country in 2016 and failing to produce financial statements.

In response, the embassy launched a personal attack on Majoni through the two successive statements, accusing him of seeking to undermine the ChinaZimbabwe relations, having a “hidden political agenda, bully tactics and money-mongering.”

In its statement that was delivered to the Chinese embassy last week and copied to ZMC, VMCZ and The Standard, MAZ expressed concern over the personal attacks.

“Whilst the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe acknowledges and accepts the right of the Chinese embassy to respond to publications which concern the Chinese government, MAZ is concerned by the language used in the responses adverted to hereinabove,” said the media consortium in the letter that was signed by its chairperson, Tabani Moyo.

“It is the MAZ’s considered view that any officious by-stander called upon to assess the tone of the Chinese embassy’s comments can only come to the conclusion that the tone is belligerent, demeaning and confrontational,” added the statement.

The Chinese responses were likely to undermine journalists’ right to freedom of expression and the media as provided under section 61 of the Zimbabwean constitution, said Moyo in the statement.

MAZ suggested that the ZMC must investigate the Chinese statements in order to establish whether they did not amount to violation of Majoni’s rights.