
Maputo, 13 Sep (AIM) – The Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has condemned the ban imposed on two reporters from Rádio Chuabo, a local radio station based in Quelimane city, capital of Zambezia province, when they were covering the campaign of the ruling Frelimo party for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.
According to a MISA statement, the ban represents a serious violation of the Freedom of the Press and the Right to Information.
The case took place last Wednesday in the Brandão neighbourhood. The violation was committed by the District Secretary of the Frelimo women’s branch (OMM), in Quelimane, Mariamo Amade. The victims were reporters Valeriano Evaristo and Leonarda Domingos, even though they were both duly accredited.
The victims, cited in the MISA statement, claimed that their ban was imposed by Mariamo Amade, who said that they were not authorized by the party’s higher structures at district level to work with Rádio Chuabo FM.
“But later, she claimed that the journalists‘ credentials, issued by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), could be false, arguing that only credentials provided directly at the district headquarters of the Frelimo party would be valid for covering the event”, they said.
According to MISA, this is not the first time that a team from Rádio Chuabo FM has been banned from covering the election campaign. “A week earlier, other colleagues from Rádio Chuabo FM were also banned from covering the election campaign, on the same argument that they didn’t have credentials issued by the Frelimo party”, MISA said.
“It is unacceptable for the local structures of political parties (including Frelimo) to prevent the work of journalists on the basis of illegal pretexts. The claim by the District Secretary of the OMM is beyond all reason.”, MISA declared.
Furthermore, election campaigns are public events and as such, covering them does not require authorization from anyone.
“For this reason, the attitude of this Frelimo leader represents a deliberate and flagrant action to limit fundamental rights. We call on the justice authorities and Mariamo Amade’s superiors to hold this violator of press freedom and the right to information to account. Both the justice authorities and the Frelimo party, internally, must send a clear message that they do not condone these situations, not least to dissuade other cases of this kind from occurring”, stressed MISA.
(AIM)
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