H.E. Thabo Mbeki
President of South Africa
The Presidency
Union Buildings, West Wing
Government Avenue
Pretoria 0001
Republic of South Africa

Fax: (+ 2712) 323 82 46 / 2573

Vienna, 14 December 2005

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives in over 110 countries, invites you to use your office to raise the issue of press freedom in neighbouring Zimbabwe at the highest levels of the Zimbabwean government.

In particular, IPI calls on Your Excellency to express the concerns of the South African government and the wider international community at the confiscation of publisher Trevor Ncube’s passport and the growing evidence that the Zimbabwean government intends to target a list of around 60 people in the same manner under an amendment to the Zimbabwean Constitution.

The list of those apparently targeted is a disturbing roll call of individuals committed to defending press freedom and freedom of expression within Zimbabwe. They include editors and journalists, human rights lawyers, poets and politicians.

All of them risk having their passports and travel documents confiscated by the authorities for merely attempting to travel. The Zimbabwean government’s decision to act in this manner represents not only an effective ban on free movement, but is also strong evidence of its desire to persecute and confine those who have struggled hardest to maintain a semblance of freedom of expression within the country.

When examining the dire situation in Zimbabwe, IPI is convinced that Your Excellency and the South African government must now show the necessary leadership in this increasingly worrying matter.

It is IPI’s opinion that Your Excellency and the South African government are uniquely positioned to provide this leadership. Given South Africa’s modern history of overthrowing apartheid, and its many brutalities and intimidations, no other country in Southern Africa is better placed to remind the Zimbabwean government of the need to uphold fundamental human rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression.

Moreover, while subtle diplomacy has its place, IPI believes that, as the pressures on the media and many others increase almost daily, the time has now come for Your Excellency to forcibly speak out and to give effective leadership to others in their own condemnation of these repressive actions.

At the IPI 43rd Annual Assembly in 1994, your predecessor, President Nelson Mandela, when addressing the IPI Congress, said, “A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference.”

Later in the same year, when writing in the U.S. journal Foreign Affairs, President Mandela wrote, “South Africa’s future foreign relations will be based on our belief that human rights should be the core concern of international relations, and we are ready to play a role in fostering peace and prosperity in the world we share with the community of nations.”

IPI believes that President Mandela’s words represent statements of intent to be applied by the South African government everywhere, including Zimbabwe, where the “lifeblood” of the independent press has been thinned by persistent and repressive state interference.

It should also be recognised that a failure to take a committed stance on the matter of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe also has potential risks for South Africa. Throughout the world, a free and independent media operates as a barometer of national events. Taking into account the grave economic conditions within Zimbabwe, there is a danger that, without a free media to give warning, a sudden crisis will occur that could have an unforeseen impact on South Africa.

Since its formation in 1950, IPI has supported freedom of expression within South Africa and we are proud that the long years of apartheid have given way to the open policies of a democratic government committed to upholding human rights. However, we invite Your Excellency to think back to a time when there remained an urgent need for vocal and forcible international condemnation of apartheid and it was not always forthcoming.

As in yesteryear, there is now a growing need for international condemnation of the repressive actions of a single country and we urge Your Excellency to take the lead by coordinating this action, thereby reminding the world that South Africa supports the right of ordinary citizens in every country to express themselves without fear of intimidation.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director

CC
H.E. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
Office of the Secretary-General
United Nations
One, United Nations Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10017, USA
Fax: (+1212) 963-1921

H.E. José Manuel Barroso
President
European Commission
200 rue de la Loi
1049 Brussels, Belgium
Fax: (+ 322) 295 01 38

H.E. Paul Wolfowitz
President
The World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433, USA
Fax: (+1202) 477-6391

H.E. Koichiro Matsuura
Director General
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy
F-75352 Paris 07 SP, France
Fax: (+33-1) 45 68 55 55/58 11