Letter
Johannesburg Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends has sent the following letter (available by clicking on the link below), with the necessary adjustments of address, to President Mugabe, Professor J Moyo, Minister of Information and Publicity, Dr T Mahoso, Chairman of the Media and Information Commission and Mr A Chigovera, The Attorney General. In addition, copies were sent to: The Office of the President, South Africa; The Department of Foreign Affairs, South Africa; The Zimbabwe High Commission, South Africa; The Friend, Quaker newsletter; Quaker Prevention Network; and distributed in Johannesburg Monthly Meeting minutes to the Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. We would like to thank you for your ongoing coverage of events in Africa - we frequently find the Pambazuka editorials helpful and have taken the liberty of circulating these to friends concerned with social witness. We were also particularly appreciative of the trouble someone took to provide contact details for those to whom the letters are addressed.
The Clerk, Members, and Attenders
Religious Society of Friends
3 Gordon Terrace
Yeoville
Johannesburg
2198
22 September 2003
President Mugabe
Office of the President
Munhumutapa Building
Samora Machel Avenue/ 3rd Street
Harare
Zimbabwe
Dear Sir
The Johannesburg Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends asks you to lift the ban on the Daily News and allow its editor and staff to continue with their work.
In our experience under apartheid, government restrictions on press freedom were symptomatic of the deep crisis South Africa was in. These restrictions imposed a coercive silence but gave no comfort and did nothing towards solving this crisis. They showed a government - and a reluctant privileged voting minority - determined to avoid for as long as possible the need to engage in an acceptable, legitimate process towards finding a political solution to this crisis.
What we would like to see everywhere - but particularly in Africa - are governments that:
· are responsive to the needs of their country's peoples
· foster dialogue and debate within an open society
· uphold press freedom and access to information
· are willing to engage constructively with opposition movements for the greater good of the country and all who live in it.
We hold you and the people of Zimbabwe in our prayers.
Yours sincerely
Duduzile Mtshazo
Clerk, Johannesburg Monthly Meeting