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Statement on denial of an operating licence to Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
July 19, 2005

The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe considers the refusal by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) to grant Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, to be a flagrant denial of justice. The grounds on which the MIC has denied ANZ an operating licence are misdirected and contravene the Supreme Court's decision directing the MIC to consider a fresh application for a licence from the ANZ.

The ANZ submitted a fresh application for a licence to the Media and Information Commission in March 2005 following a ruling of the Supreme Court, which determined that "the issue of registration of the applicant (ANZ) as a mass media provider is remitted to the commission de novo." Once the application for a licence to operate had been submitted to the Media and Information Commission by the ANZ, it was expected that the MIC would consider the merits of the ANZ application against existing criteria for granting licences to mass media service providers without prejudicing the ANZ on the basis of past lack of compliance with the law.
However the MIC decided to deny ANZ a licence "having found that the applicant contravened Sections 66, 72, 76 and 79 (6) of the Act (AIPPA)."

Its reasons for denying ANZ a licence were:

• The Applicant published without a licence in 2003 (Section 66 and 72)
• Failure by the applicant to deposit copies of its newspaper with the MIC (Section 76)
• The applicant employed unaccredited journalists (Section 79(6))

The MIC's reasons for refusing to grant ANZ an operating licence go against the determination of the Supreme Court that the ANZ's application was to be dealt with de novo (as a fresh application). ANZ has not published a single issue since its submission of an application for a licence in mid-March 2005 and consequently, for the purposes of considering this particular application, has in no way violated Sections 66 and 72 of AIPPA. Whether or not ANZ had previously published without a licence in 2003 is an immaterial consideration in this matter.

ANZ has yet to publish and as such cannot be expected to have deposited copies of its publications with the MIC and the National Archives as prescribed by Section 76. The ANZ could not be expected to employ accredited journalists as its employees could not be accredited before it had been granted a licence.

MMPZ believes these reasons for denying ANZ a licence are misdirected and lack a basis at law. ANZ's application for a licence should have been dealt with against laid down criteria for considering applications for licences by mass media service providers on a 'non-discretionary" basis.

The grounds upon which ANZ has been denied a licence are irrelevant in a process that seems designed to unduly delay the applicant's exercise of constitutionally guaranteed rights. Furthermore MMPZ considers the refusal by the MIC to grant the ANZ a licence as an affront to freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. MMPZ anticipates that the ANZ will be "accorded the same protection accorded all citizens who are law-abiding" by the judiciary following frustration of its attempts to "comply with the law."

MMPZ believes the ruling clearly demonstrates the undemocratic authority of the MIC to circumvent the due process of the law and the deeply flawed nature of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that provides the MIC with this authority. Since September 2003 the MIC has forced four newspapers to close down - all for reasons that do not outweigh Zimbabweans' constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of expression. The excessively restrictive provisions of AIPPA allow the MIC to drastically curtail the activities of media service providers and journalists for what amount to petty administrative "offences" and are part of a system that is designed to undermine democratic norms of press freedom and the free flow of information.

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