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Extension
of the commission running the City of Harare
Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-22
Monday
June 13th – Sunday June 19th 2005
THE media’s
failure to adequately inform the public about critical issues affecting
their lives was demonstrated by their failure to report and explain
the authorities’ six-month extension to the life of the government-appointed
commission running the City of Harare.
Except for The
Herald (9/6), the rest of the media ignored the issue and the
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)’s court application
seeking the termination of the commission’s term to facilitate the
holding of council elections.
In its application,
CHRA argued that it was illegal for government to extend the commission’s
expired term because according to the Urban Councils Act, a commission
can only be in office for a maximum of six months. Thus, the Harare
council commission’s tenure should have expired on June 10.
But instead
of openly discussing the provisions of the Act and the legality
of government’s moves, The Herald sought to justify the reappointment
of the Harare Commissioners. It argued: "Although commissions
are normally appointed for a period of six months, government indicated
at the beginning that the commission would operate for 24 months,
implying it would periodically renew the commissions’ mandate".
Without viewing
this as proof of the authorities’ blatant disregard for the law,
the paper then gave Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo acres
of space to further try and legitimise government’s actions. Chombo
claimed that it was "untenable to have elections"
because former Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri was contesting his dismissal,
adding that government was happy with the commission’s "turnaround
strategy" for the city.
"We
cannot disturb the momentum. We also cannot disturb the clean-up
campaign just to satisfy the whims of a few people",
he added.
Notably, the
private media’s failure to pick up the story and expose the authorities’
disrespect for laws that attempt to entrench democratic practice
and the blatant violation of the citizenry’s rights to choose leaders
of their choice was tantamount to abdicating their professional
role as watchdogs of government.
Meanwhile, the
Zimbabwe Independent (17/6) revealed that despite
calls on the government to repeal repressive laws, the authorities
were actually considering stiffer penalties for journalists and
civilians who violate various sections of the draconian Public Order
and Security Act (POSA). According to the proposed amendment, fines
for those found guilty of breaching some clauses of POSA, which
currently range from $20 000 to $200 000, would be increased by
between 400 and 800 percent.
The government
media ignored the matter.
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