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MMPZ condemns the campaign against freedom of expression orchestrated by the state using repressive legislation
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2003-36
Monday September 7th - Sunday September 14th 2003

The government's continued closure and more recently, the seizure of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) equipment using the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) clearly demonstrates the ZANU PF led government's intolerance of alternative opinion.

The ANZ, which publishes The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, was shut down on Friday 12th September 2003 after the Supreme Court ruled that it had to register with the Media and Information Commission (MIC) for its case to be heard in the Supreme Court. ANZ is challenging the constitutionality of some sections of AIPPA.

MMPZ condemns this campaign against freedom of expression orchestrated by the state using repressive legislation.

Besides this latest development, The Daily News has been bombed thrice and none of the culprits has been brought to book. Its editors and reporters have been arrested and in some cases assaulted by the police for executing their journalistic responsibility. Some of its vendors have not been spared either. They have been intimidated and harassed by overzealous ZANU PF supporters, who have banned the paper in areas perceived to be the ruling party strongholds. In almost all these cases, the suspects are yet to be brought before the courts of law.

The ANZ is not the only casualty of AIPPA and government's undemocratic and unjust media policy. Several community newspapers have stopped publishing because of the punitive registration requirements in Statutory Instrument 169C/2002 (Chapter 10:27) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (Registration, Accreditation and Levy) Regulations of June 2002. In addition, several foreign correspondents have been denied the right to practice in the country using the same regulations.
The broadcasting sector is no different. Joy TV ceased operations on legal grounds. The Voice of the People, which exercised its constitutional right to freedom of expression, had its offices bombed last year. And as in The Daily News case, the matter remains unresolved until today. No alternative broadcasters have been licensed.

The latest event serves as a clear indication to the people of Zimbabwe that AIPPA, hastily crafted under the guise of promoting rights to freedom of expression, has become the very antithesis of what it's supposed to stand for. MMPZ believes these rights can still be reclaimed if Parliament considers an overhaul of the policy objectives of AIPPA.

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