Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

SADC criticises Zimbabwe media environment
MISA-Zimbabwe
April 04, 2005

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has joined the growing chorus of voices agitating for the creation of an enabling environment that allows for equitable access to the state media by all Zimbabweans across the socio-political and economic divide.

The call was made in Harare on 3 April 2005 by the SADC Election Observer Mission at the end of Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections which were held on 31 March 2005.

Addressing journalists at a news conference in Harare, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of the observer mission, who described the election as "peaceful, credible, well managed and transparent", was however not happy with the prevailing media environment.

Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is also the South African Minister of minerals and energy, said there was need to improve equitable access to the state media by all political parties.

"It is also the Mission’s view that, although there were efforts to ensure equitable access to the public media, there is still much to be done in this area to improve access to the state media by the opposition,’’ she said.

MISA-Zimbabwe has ruffled the feathers of the authorities in Harare by consistently and persistently calling for the repeal of the Broadcasting Services Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) as laws that infringe on media freedom and freedom of expression.

Under its Open the Airwaves Campaign, MISA-Zimbabwe has pointed out that the BSA should be repealed as it was designed to consolidate the government’s monopoly and stranglehold on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) to the exclusion of opposing views.

In apparent capitulation to the incessant calls to improve access to the public broadcaster, the government gazetted the parameters and regulations pertaining to equal access to radio and television in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.

While the BSA provides that every political party has the right to reasonable access to the media, a similar provision is not provided for under AIPPA which regulates the print media.

A similar provision should apply to the print media as well given that the government has the controlling stake in Zimpapers, which publishes its flagship national daily The Herald and its stablemates, The Sunday Mail, Chronicle, Sunday News, Manica Post and Kwayedza.

The issue of accessing the public broadcaster by opposition political parties has been at the center of accusations that ZANU PF monopolises the ZBH at the expense of other players.

In the run-up to the elections, reportage of the campaign activities was heavily skewed in Zanu PF’s favour with Zimpapers imposing a news blackout on the activities of the opposition MDC. This was evidenced by its refusal to accept advertising material from the opposition party.

It is against the backdrop of the stringent and restrictive nature of AIPPA that Zimbabwe has over the years arrested or deported dozens of journalists and denied others entry into the country under its anti-media laws.

On 1 April 2005, a Swedish television correspondent Fredrik Sperling, was arrested in Harare and deported after being questioned for filming a farm previously owned by a white commercial farmer. He was accused of trespassing.

His organisation, Sveriges Television, has since filed a complaint with the Zimbabwean embassy.

Two British journalists working for the Sunday Telegraph, Toby Harnden and photographer Julian Simmonds, were arrested outside Harare for covering the elections without accreditation, an offence punishable by two years imprisonment, a fine or both imprisonment and a fine.

The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) turned down several other applications by foreign journalists.

The arrests and deportations make a strong case for the establishment of a self-regulatory independent media council to adjudicate over the conduct of journalists as opposed to the present scenario where regulation of the print media is left to the whims of the MIC.

The establishment of an independent broadcasting authority will also go a long way in ensuring that the ZBH is transformed into a truly public broadcaster unfettered by provisions of BSA, which entrench the government’s monopoly of the airwaves.

Visit the MISA-Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP