The Dutch Prime Minister has come under fire recently for suggesting that the media should refrain from attacking the royal family. This has led to some healthy debate, on whether his position gives him the right to tell newspaper editors what to publish, and indeed whether the royal family needs, or deserves, his (or anyone else’s) protection.

Of course, for elected officials the matter is cut and dried. All politicians are fair game for the media. They are in the kitchen and they can expect to get hot on some occasions. And this is only right. The views they hold, their actions, even their private lives, should be subjected to scrutiny by their constituents, whom they purport to serve.

For me, this debate is typical of what one expects in a democracy. In Zimbabwe, a democracy in name only, there is no such debate. The government has actually legislated against any criticism of the president. One can be jailed for bringing the president into disrepute in any way, even though his behaviour may be thoroughly disreputable.

Only last week, a friend of mine who edits the privately-owned Zimbabwe Independent, Iden Wetherell, and two of his reporters spent two nights in a filthy cell with common criminals after the paper carried a story revealing details of how president Robert Mugabe, who was on leave in Malaysia, demanded an Air Zimbabwe plane to carry him and his family around the Far East for five days.

The newspaper article quoted an informed source at Air Zimbabwe who told them that several empty crates had been loaded onto the plane, into which the Mugabes could pack their shopping for the trip home. No sooner had the newspaper appeared on the streets than the Zimbabwe Republic Police, who act with uncharacteristic zeal when called upon to intervene in matters relating to the president’s reputation, swung into action and arrested Wetherell and his two reporters.

This draconian law, together with several others similar in intent, have been introduced during the past three years. They are intended not only to muzzle the media but also to control the behaviour of individual Zimbabweans. It was actually this behaviour that gave rise to the legislation in the first place.

Fed up with the corruption and extravagance of the ruling party, and denied the opportunity to exercise their voice through free and fair elections, Zimbabweans began to express their dissatisfaction with Mugabe as he drove past in his long cavalcade of speeding vehicles full of armed bodyguards at a time when the country had run out of fuel.

It became commonplace for people to shout obscenities, shake their fists and make other rude gestures as the convoy sped past. It is now an offence to point a finger at the president’s convoy or to make any gesture which may be deemed disrespectful while it is passing by. Prosecutions under this law do not always follow the proper course of justice, as the president’s motorcycle outriders have been known to stop and mete out “instant justice” by beating up pedestrians for shaking their fists at the convoy.


All columns by Wilf Mbanga

Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in Tilburg, the Netherlands. He writes about the differences between Tilburg and Harare. His column is printed weekly in "Het Brabants Dagblad".