"Nations that succeed are nations that allow their citizens to ventilate their ideas." With these words Trevor Ncube, publisher of the Mail and Guardian and owner of the only independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, accepted the International Publishers Association's IPA Freedom of Expression Prize this morning at a press function at the Mount Nelson Hotel, launching the Cape Town Book Fair. Naturally ArtHeat was there to cover the event. The award, which is not given out every year, was awarded to no less than three recipients this time; unfortunately two of them posthumously (Hrant Dink & Anna Politkovskaya having been murdered for promoting the cause of freedom of expression). The case of Politkovskaya was particularly tragic as she was scheduled to speak to the IPA on the very day she was assassinated, the Russian government having refused to allow her to leave the country. She was murdered in her apartment in Moscow on 7 October 2006. Dink, a Turkish publisher of Armenian descent was shot outside his office in Istanbul in January this year.

When asked by a German journalist if he was concerned for his safety now that he had been recognised with this prestigious award, Ncube stated, "the best we can do is to live our lives according to our convictions," noting that he cannot overly concern himself with other people's evil intentions towards him. Scarily one of his editors based in Zim recently received a bullet in an envelope at his office.

Given the state of repression in Zimbabwe and the ongoing permanent censorship and harassment of all who are involved in creative and news-based work in that country the opening event of the book fair was a sobering indication of how fragile our right to express ourselves can be.