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Crisis Report - Issue 240
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
November 21,
2013
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Government
confused on defamation laws
Two ministries
in the Government of Zimbabwe have shown opposing intentions on
the fate of the notorious criminal defamation laws, which are found
under the Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which could signal lack of
consensus on whether to scrap them or not.
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Prof. Jonathan
Moyo recently said the defamation laws should be removed to create
a free environment for the media, mean-while Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has filed opposing
papers at the Constitutional Court (Concourt) in a bid to have the
laws retained.
The viewpoint of the Information, Media and Broadcasting Services
Ministry seemed to be legally strengthened by the Concourt, which
ruled that the laws, Sections 31(a) (iii) and 33 (a) (ii), which
criminalize publishing and communicating falsehoods detrimental
to the State, and undermining the authority of the President respectively
were unconstitutional and must be scrapped on Wednesday, October
30.
However, when
the Concourt gave Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Mnangagwa 20 days to show cause why the laws should not be removed,
his ministry on behalf of the government filed legal opposition
against the scrapping of the laws on the last day of the ultimatum
on Wednesday, November 20.
Jeremiah Bhamu
of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR), a lawyer privy to the case and one
of the lawyers representing visual artist Owen Maseko, who challenged
the constitutionality of the law, confirmed that Minister Mnangagwa
had opposed the scrapping.
“Minister
Mnangagwa opposed confirmation of the order,” Bhamu said,
“and filed bulky submissions. “We will respond to them
in due course, meantime the show cause order was discharged.”
Incidentally, the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Minister who
has been locked in a one year legal battle with private media is
claiming US 1 million damages from newspaper stable, Alpha Media
where Zimbabwe Independent editor Dumisani Muleya is cited as second
respondent.
Mnangagwa won
the first round of the suit after the High Court threw out the publishing
company’s application for exception to the claim, according
to The Herald of Tuesday, November 19. Besides the case of Masuku,
the other case challenging the constitutionality the defamation
laws was brought to the Concourt by journalists Constantine Chimakure
and Vincent Kahiya of Alpha Media.
The legal opposition
by government is at odds with the more progressive precedents set
when similar provisions under the Public
Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) were ruled
to be in violation of the African
Charter on Human and People’s Rights, after Media
Institute of Southern Africa - Zimbabwe Chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe)
and other media organisations approached the African Commission
in 2005.
AIPPA and POSA
were revised in 2008 to repeal the provisions, but according to
MISA-Zimbabwe Director Nhlanhla Ngwenya:
“Instead
of repealing the laws completely, they brought them to a different
Act, under Section 31 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform
Act.
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