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Mugabe
signs draconian law
MISA-Zimbabwe
June
23, 2005
Zimbabwean journalists
now risk spending 20 years in jail following the signing into law
by President Robert Mugabe of the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Bill which introduces stiffer penalties against the publication
of falsehoods.
The Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Bill Chapter 9:23 which was passed
by Parliament at the end of last year, was gazetted on 2 June 2005
after the President assented to it.
The date it
comes into force is still to be published by Statutory Instrument.
The Act, introduces
harsher penalties than those provided for under the Public Order
and Security Act (POSA) and Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
A journalist
convicted of contravening Section 31(a) of the Act will be jailed
for a period not exceeding 20 years or to a fine of up to Z$2,5
million or to both fine and imprisonment.
Under Section
15 of POSA, which is similar to Section 31of the Codification Act,
one is liable to a five-year jail term or alternatively a fined
$100 000 or both imprisonment and fine.
Section 31(a)
of the Act which is almost regurgitation of Section 15 of POSA,
makes it an offence for anyone inside or outside Zimbabwe to publish
or communicate to any other person a statement which is wholly or
materially false with the intention or realising that there is real
risk or a possibility of any of the following:
(i) Inciting
or promoting public disorder or public violence or endangering
public safety.
(ii) Adversely
affecting the defence or economic interests of Zimbabwe.
(iii) Undermining
public confidence in a law enforcement agency, the Prison Service
or the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe.
(iv) Interfering
with, disrupting or interrupting any essential service.
An offence will
still have been committed even if the publication or communication
does not result in any of the envisaged scenarios.
Section 31(b)
of the Act deals with issues extracted from Section 80 of AIPPA.
The Section
deals with issues that have to do with publishing or communicating
falsehoods.
Under AIPPA,
once convicted, one is liable to two years imprisonment or a Z$400
000 fine.
In terms of
the Codification Act a convict under Section 31 (b) is now liable
to a 20-year jail term or Z$2,5 million.
Meanwhile, Section
33 of the Codification is similar in all respects to Section 16
of POSA.
It deals with
“undermining the authority of or insulting the President”.
This section
was taken from Section 46 of the repealed Law and Order Maintenance
Act (LOMA) which preceded POSA.
It prohibits
the making, publicly and intentionally, of any false statement (including
an act or gesture) about or concerning the President or Acting President
if the person knows or realises that there is a risk or possibility
of engendering feelings of hostility towards or causing hatred,
contempt or ridicule of him, whether in his official or personal
capacity.
It is also an
offence to make an abusive, indecent, obscene or false statement
about the President, also in his official or personal capacity.
POSA imposes
a fine of Z$20,000 or a one year jail term or to both fine and imprisonment.
The Codification Act raises the fine to Z$200 000 while the prison
term remains the same.
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