NGO marks 20 years since the murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso

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NGO marks 20 years since the murder of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso

12:19 CAT | 23 Nov 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in Mozambique yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso, calling the assassination one of the “worst stains” in the history of journalism and governance in Mozambique

“Carlos Cardoso’s murder was one of the worst stains in the history of journalism and governance, and it impacted the country’s image in terms of press freedoms,” reads a statement from the Mozambican branch of the Southern African Institute for Social Communication, MISA-Mozambique.

Cardoso was shot dead in his car at about 6:30 p.m. on November 22, 2000, a few metres from his newspaper (the Metical), from where he had just left, at a time when he was investigating the diversion of millions of Euros from the then Banco Comercial de Moçambique (BCM).

For MISA-Mozambique, Carlos Cardoso was the “personification of the integrity, citizenship and professionalism of the Mozambican journalistic class, whose profession places truth and justice above any interests, for the sake of a true Democratic State of Law”.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the murder of the journalist, the non-governmental organisation, in coordination with the online newssheet Carta de Moçambique, will on Monday host a debate on the theme “Celebrating the life and work of Carlos Cardoso: 20 years after his brutal murder”.

Carlos Cardoso conceived the idea of launching, in 1992, a daily paper distributed by fax – MediaFax, the country’s first independent newspaper – while also carefully preparing, in 1993 the launch of the weekly Savana alongside other members of the media group Mediacoop.

The diary was an instantaneous success, even though the country at the time did not have many fax machines, and dozens of publications copied the model, many of them still in circulation, although now by email.

Carlos Cardoso, a journalist famous for his research in economic and political areas in Mozambique, was born in 1951, in Beira, in the province of Sofala.

His career as a journalist began at the Mozambican Information Agency, where he became director.

In 2003, six people were sentenced to terms between 23 and 28 years in prison for Cardoso’s death.

Source: Lusa