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Zimbabwe's last independent newspapers under threat

Andrew Meldrum

Mugabe moves to annul the citizenship of journals' owner

— PHOTO: AFP

FACING REVOLT: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe at the ZANU-PF party's annual conference in Harare recently.

Johannesburg: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has moved to close the country's last remaining independent newspapers by stripping the influential newspaper owner Trevor Ncube of his citizenship.

The action against the publisher comes as Mr Mugabe (82) and in power for 26 years, pushes for an extension to his term of office by a further two years. Frustrated by unprecedented resistance from within his Zanu-PF party, Mr Mugabe appears to be trying to silence all his critics.

Top Government officials said Mr Ncube, the publisher of two weekly newspapers, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, was not entitled to Zimbabwean citizenship because his father was Zambian.

Zimbabwe's draconian media laws require newspapers to be owned by Zimbabwean citizens. If the Mugabe Government succeeds in withdrawing Mr Ncube's status as a citizen, it is expected to swiftly close his two papers, which are staunch critics of Mr Mugabe's policies.

Mr Ncube said on Sunday that he will go to court to retain his Zimbabwean citizenship: ``I am a Zimbabwean. I was born and bred in Zimbabwe and I have no other citizenship. I am confident the courts will uphold my rights,'' he said.

Mr. Ncube's father was from Zambia but held Zimbabwean citizenship by the time his son was born, according to court papers.

A year ago, the Government seized Mr Ncube's passport but the courts ordered that it be returned to him. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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