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The banning of the Daily News
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition
September 22, 2003
Read
the statement regarding the Supreme Court ruling in the Daily News
case
The Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition deplores the banning of the Daily News by the government.
There is worldwide
recognition that freedom of expression and free flow of information are
essential ingredients of a democracy. Freedom of expression is one of
the most precious and fundamental human rights as it is essential for
the exercise of other democratic rights. Democracy can only fourish in
societies where information and ideas can flow freely. Free flow of information
requires that the public and the press be free to disseminate information,
and that the public be entitled to receive that information. In a democracy
the press operates as a watchdog on behalf of the governed and exposes
abuse of power, corruption and maladministration. No democracy can develop
effectively without a vibrant media.
The last few years
have seen the intensification of the regime’s hostile campaign against
the private press. The offices and printing press of the Daily News
have been bombed as has the building housing the offices of an independent
broadcaster. Many editors and journalists have been arrested and charged
under repressive legislation. There has been constant harassment of private
press editors and journalists and a number of them have been physically
assaulted. Lawless elements have destroyed copies of the Daily News
and assaulted vendors.
A key part of the
strategy by the Mugabe regime to silence dissent and criticism of its
abuse of power and destructive policies was to pass two highly obnoxious
pieces of legislation. These are the Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). POSA
was intended to eliminate the right of freedom of assembly by groups opposed
to government policies and to create a series of draconian offences such
as those penalising those who criticise the President and law enforcement
agencies. AIPPA was intended to strangle the private press by subjecting
it to stifling controls and restrictions and by creating various serious
criminal offences that can be committed by media houses and journalists.
AIPPA was devised by and under the control of a Minister who had displayed
extreme antipathy towards the private press. Although the application
of the controls are nominally in the hands of a Media Commission, the
Minister has substantive control over the membership and operations of
this body.
The Crisis Coalition
notes that the Mugabe government has failed to honour its repeated undertakings
to SADC leaders that it would repeal or drastically amend these pieces
of legislation to make them democratically acceptable.
The Daily News
refused to subject itself to the repressive regime of AIPPA. It sought
to bring a constitutional challenge to the legislation in the Supreme
Court. The Supreme Court signed the death warrant of the Daily News
by refusing to rule on the constitutionality of AIPPA until it had complied
with the law by registering or had ceased its operations. This was a green
light to the police to close down the newspaper and seize its equipment.
This forced the Daily News to seek registration under AIPPA, only
to have its application rejected by the politically partisan Media and
Information Commission (MIC) on the basis that it had flouted the law
by failing to register earlier. This was effectively to close down the
newspaper.
The banning of the
Daily News constitutes the ruling party’s most serious attack yet
upon freedom of expression and media freedom. It is the action of a ruthless
and intolerant regime. It deprives large numbers of Zimbabweans of a daily
source of information and an alternative to the virulent propaganda disseminated
by the state controlled media. There is no doubt that the primary objective
of the Mugabe regime in banning the Daily News is to ensure that
Zimbabweans, and indeed the international community, do not receive information
about the regime’s continued acts of abuse of power, repression, violence
and grave abuse of human rights that are being perpetrated against the
people of Zimbabwe.
Attempts by members
of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) to demonstrate against the
closure of the Daily News, and to call for good governance and a new Constitution
were quashed by the police. Over 130 NCA members were arrested—thanks
to the provision of POSA and the Miscellaneous Offences Act. The next
likely target of the ongoing campaign to snuff out alternate voices will
be civil society organisations. As witnessed by the NCA, the space for
democratic debate and peaceful demonstration will become increasingly
closed. And, without an independent daily newspaper to comment on and
expose these injustices, attacks on human rights and constitutional freedoms
are likely to intensify.
On behalf of civil
society and the majority of the people of Zimbabwe, we demand:
- that the people
of Zimbabwe be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedoms and
rights within the provisions of laws which are compatible with democratic
principles.
- that AIPPA be immediately
repealed and replaced by a voluntary scheme of self-regulation by the
media;
- that the Daily
News be immediately allowed to re-commence publication.
We conclude by applauding
the courage of the Daily News in its continuing battle to be allowed
to inform Zimbabweans and the outside community about what is happening
in the country. We call upon all Zimbabweans who value democracy to join
in the campaign to demand the resuscitation of the Daily News.
Visit the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition fact
sheet
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