Media censor criticises UK paper

THE chairman of Zimbabwe’s media commission, which has shut down four independent newspapers in two years, lashed out yesterday at a new weekly newspaper published in Britain but distributed in Zimbabwe.

The state-controlled Herald Newspaper, the only daily allowed to publish in Zimbabwe, said the new weekly, The Zimbabwean, was “a propaganda tool” for the former colonial power, Britain.

It quoted Tafataona Mahoso, the head of Zimbabwe’s media commission, as threatening to take unspecified action against the new newspaper, which is free from government censorship and highly critical of the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe has passed draconian media laws that prohibit any journalists from working without a government licence.