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High Court rules against ANZ
MISA-Zimbabwe
May 12, 2005

Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the banned Daily News, have failed to secure a declaratory order for their journalists to be accredited with the Media and Information Commission (MIC) after the High Court dismissed their application with costs.

The ruling by High Court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha comes more than a year after ANZ filed the application seeking a declaratory order to have its journalists accredited.

The Daily News and Daily News on Sunday ceased publication on 11 September 2003 following a Supreme Court judgment that they were operating illegally as they were not registered with the MIC in terms of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

In his judgment, Justice Kamocha said ANZ was not a registered mass media house and could not therefore carry out mass media functions until it is registered.

ANZ, Daily News senior journalists, Nqobile Nyathi, John Gambanga and Luke Tamborinyoka representing the other journalists, were the applicants, while MIC and the former Minister of Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo, were cited as the respondents in the matter.

Meanwhile, the ANZ is still awaiting the determination of its application lodged with the MIC.

This followed a Supreme Court judgment in March 2005 in the matter in which ANZ was seeking an order to resume publication. The ANZ had refused to be registered with the MIC pending the decision of the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of certain sections of AIPPA.

In his judgment in March this year, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku upheld the sections in questions as constitutional and referred the ANZ back to the MIC where its application would be considered as a fresh issue.

The MIC is still to make its determination on the ANZ application almost three months after the Supreme Court judgment.

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