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Statement
by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) on the Occasion
of the 38th Ordinary Session of the African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Banjul, Gambia
MISA-Zimbabwe
November 24, 2005
Delivered
by MISA-Zimbabwe legal officer Wilbert Mandinde, in Banjul, Gambia.
Chairperson,
honourable commissioners, distinguished participants, we thank you
for the time that we have been accorded to address this august house
on the exercise of the right to freedom of expression in Zimbabwe.
Rarely are the
words "Zimbabwe" and "crisis" mentioned incongruently
these days.
Zimbabwe is
in a crisis and freedom of expression remains under siege.
MISA-Zimbabwe
maintains that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Act (AIPPA) is a repressive piece of legislation enacted primarily
to undermine the right to freedom of expression and stifle the exchange
of ideas and information.
Under AIPPA,
the government- appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC),
has refused to license the Daily News, The Daily News on Sunday
and The Tribune.
Publishers and
workers of these media organisations remain in the limbo.
AIPPA, the Public
Order and Security Act (POSA) and Broadcasting Services Act (BSA),
form an axis of repression against media freedom and freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe.
It is against
that background that MISA-Zimbabwe together with the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights and Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe,
have filed submissions to the Commission to declare that AIPPA contravenes
the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
The other case
filed by MISA-Zimbabwe relates to the Capital Radio Judgment.
Broadcasting
environment
Chairperson, it is of great concern that Zimbabwe which is celebrating
its silver jubilee of independence from colonial rule, still only
has one broadcaster, the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings
(ZBH).
Zimbabweans
have expressed interests in investing in this sector, but the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which is vested with the authority
to issue licences has failed to issue a single licence despite the
enactment in 2001 of the BSA which recognises the principle of the
three-tier broadcasting system.
No private players
have been granted operating licences as all the applications for
local and national commercial radio stations and commercial television
services are, alarmingly, said to have failed to meet the criteria
set in terms of the BSA.
Munhumutapa
African Broadcasting Corporation was in September this year denied
an operating licence to set up a commercial television station.
We are, however,
happy to note that this issue has captured the attention of our
parliament which is investigating the operations of the state broadcaster
and that of the regulatory authority, BAZ.
It should, however,
be noted that this latest parliamentary probe comes on the backdrop
of previous other parliamentary recommendations on the need to transform
the ZBH into a truly independent public broadcadster.
These recommendations
have largely been ignored, pointing to a weak democracy in which
the executive does not respect the representatives of the people.
Harassment
of Journalists
Chairperson,
while cases pertaining to the harassment, arrests, vilification
and assault of journalists working for the private media have markedly
declined compared to the period leading to the 2000 and 2002 parliamentary
and presidential elections, respectively, the clamped legislative
media environment is still far from the ideal.
The decline
in cases of media freedom violations is largely due to the absence
of the critically informative Daily News.
That as it may
be, the enactment of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform)
Act and the recent tabling of the General Laws Amendment Bill which
seek to tighten sections of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
speaks volumes of a recalcitrant government that is unwilling to
open the country’s democratic space.
With the signing
into law of the Criminal (Codification and Reform) Bill on 2 June
2005, it will be increasingly difficult for the few journalists
who are still employed to perform their newsgathering tasks without
fear or favour.
Zimbabwean journalists
now risk spending 20 years in jail following the signing of the
Bill into law as the new Act introduces harsher penalties than those
provided for under POSA and AIPPA.
However, in
Zimbabwe it is an offence to make an abusive, indecent, obscene
or false statement about the President, in his official or personal
capacity.
POSA imposes
a fine of Z$ 20 000 or a one year jail term or to both such fine
and imprisonment. The Codification Act raises the fine to Z$200
000 while the prison term remains the same.
The Public Order
and Security Act (POSA) will be further tightened by increasing
the penalty fees against journalists convicted for publishing statements
that undermine the authority of, or insulting the President.
This is contained
in the General Laws Amendment Bill which seeks to amend several
other Acts including the amendment of 22 sections of POSA.
The proposed
amendments seek to increase the fine imposed under Section 16 of
POSA which deals with undermining the authority of the President
by a shocking 10 000% from Z$20 000 to Z$2 million or one year imprisonment
or both such fine and imprisonment.
Secret service
involvement in newspapers
Chairperson,
we were shocked by recent reports that the Zimbabwean State Security
Agents, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), infiltrated
the Zimbabwe Mirror Newspapers Group.
State security
agents have no business in the media and should leave the running
of media houses in the professional hands of media practitioners
and concentrate on their role of providing state security intelligence.
Suffice to say
these developments amply demonstrate that Zimbabwe is far from conforming
with its constitutional, regional and international obligations
as mandated under the various charters and conventions it has ratified
to foster and secure an environment that respects freedom of expression
as a fundamental human right.
This intransigence
which continues to impact negatively on media freedom, is amply
demonstrated through the enactment and amendments to legislations
that have a direct and negative bearing on the exercise of the right
to freedom of expression.
I thank you.
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