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Columnist's
trial date set
MISA-Zimbabwe
January 14, 2005
The trial date
of renowned Zimbabwean columnist, Pius Wakatama, 63, who has been
facing charges of publishing falsehood under the controversial Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) since 2002,
has now been set for March 10 this year.
Wakatama is
being charged under Section 80 (a) (ii)) of AIPPA after he allegedly
repeated an allegedly false story published on April 29 2002 by
the banned Daily News where he was engaged as a columnist.
The story which
was referred to by Wakatama in his column in May of the same year,
alleged that some farm workers of alien origin had been left homeless
following the forced occupation of Reinham Farm on the outskirts
of Harare.
The State says
the story was later proved to be false.
Wakatama’s trial
will be of significant interest as it comes on the backdrop of a
landmark Supreme Court judgment delivered on 7 May 2003 which struck
down Section 80 (1) (b) as read with Section 80 (2) of AIPPA which
dealt with the publication of falsehoods.
The full bench
of the Supreme Court ruled that the section in question was ultra
vires Section 20 of the Constitution which guarantees and protects
freedom of expression.
Section 80 (a)
(ii) under which the columnist is being charged, stipulates:
A journalist
who abuses his or her journalistic privilege by publishing information
which he or she intentionally or recklessly falsified in a manner
which is injurious to the reputation, rights or privacy of other
persons, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not
exceeding level seven or to a period of imprisonment not exceeding
two years.
No journalist
has been convicted under AIPPA since its enactment in March 2002
as charges have either been dropped or withdrawn before plea despite
the arrests of several journalists and media workers under the controversial
legislation.
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