A letter from Tafataona Mahoso, the head of the Media Commission, which is the government's press control body, accused the privately owned weekly Zimbabwe Independent of racism after the newspaper published a letter saying Zimbabweans were as docile as "a herd of wild beasts".
He said the letter was "typical of the worst expressions of racism from the former slave territories of the US, from apartheid South Africa, and from the days of (white minority) Rhodesia".
Mahoso, whose organisation controls the licences for journalists to practise, said: "All publishers and editors in Zimbabwe should consider this statement as a warning to them as well, and not just to the Zimbabwe Independent".
Independent editor Iden Wetherell said that Mahoso's threat was linked to the commission's ability to "manipulate the issue of licences to journalists".
On Monday Wetherell and reporters Dumisani Muleya and Vincent Kahiya were released on bail after being accused of "criminal defamation" for a report last week that said President Robert Mugabe had "commandeered" one of the national airline's planes to take him on holiday to the Far East.
Wetherell said he rejected the charges and would mount a "very robust defence" to the case against them.
The letter denounced by Mahoso, signed apparently by a black Zimbabwean, said Zimbabweans were "a stupid lot" and compared them to "a herd of wild beasts" who stand and watch while one of their number is caught and killed by pride of lions.
The letter was complaining about Zimbabweans' failure to defend themselves against the repression of Mugabe's regime.
Mahoso said the alleged racism in the letter was "absolute and sweeping".
Wetherell said: "We do not accept his view that writers are necessarily being racist when they say Zimbabweans are docile in standing up to tyranny.
That is a view in the national discourse, whether we as a society are doing enough to fight the depredations of the Zimbabwe regime.
"Mahoso is an apologist to the regime and he won't allow criticism of the regime. He is dressing it up as racism".
He referred to a recent report by the Media Monitoring Project in Zimbabwe last month that accused the government media of "hate mongering" and "inciting violence," and said they were was copying of the propaganda strategy of "Radio Machete," the "hate" radio station in the Rwanda genocide in 1994.
"It is shocking that Mahoso has never acted on these issues, or on the unprofessionalism of the state media," he said. - Sapa.
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