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Agenda
Item 9: Statement by (MMPZ) on the Occasion of the 38th
Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s
Rights (ACHPR), Banjul, The Gambia
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
November
28, 2005
Delivered
by Abel Chikomo, MMPZ Advocacy Coordinator
Madam Chairperson,
MMPZ takes this opportunity to update the Commission on the situation
of freedom of expression and information in Zimbabwe. This right,
protected under the African Charter and domestically constitutionally
guaranteed, has been chiefly violated by amendments to existing
statutes and promulgation of new legislation that heavily curtails
media freedom and free flow of information. Such legislation includes
the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06] (BSA) of 2001,
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act [Chapter
10:27] (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act [Chapter
11:17] (POSA), both enacted in 2002 and the Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] of 2005.
This year alone,
at least 49 journalists have so far been arrested under AIPPA for
practising journalism without accreditation.
POSA has been
used to disrupt peaceful demonstrations and public meetings and
has also been a tool used on numerous occasions to prevent political
rallies organised by the opposition. Human rights defenders have
been routinely arrested and detained under POSA for attempting to
exercise rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
Most of these have been detained and eventually released without
charge.
Citizens who
utter statements that may be construed as insulting the President
or undermining his authority, even if they are not published
in the press, are also liable to prosecution and may be fined or
imprisoned under the POSA or the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act. Several such cases have occurred since POSA became
law in January 2002.
Extra-legal
attacks on media freedom and freedom of expression have also become
commonplace in Zimbabwe.
A de facto
monopoly of broadcast media persists in the country despite a Supreme
Court ruling in 2000 that declared a State monopoly over broadcasting
unconstitutional. The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has
rejected applications for licences in some instances, while failing
to process applications they had called for on other occasions.
In addition to Zimbabweans having no access to alternative electronic
media, Government continues to abuse public broadcast media as a
propaganda tool for the ruling party thereby compromising the public’s
ability to access information through this public resource.
An environment
wholly non-conducive to free expression persists in Zimbabwe under
the control of a Government enforcing policies calculated to severely
limit fundamental liberties.
MMPZ notes with
concern that FOE is restricted in many countries across the African
continent and calls upon the Commission to urge the African Heads
of State and Government to promote and protect the exercise of the
rights to freedom of expression and the media and to refrain from
harassing, intimidating, arresting and arbitrarily deporting journalists.
African governments must commit themselves to formulating policies
and legal frameworks for the promotion and realisation of the right
to access to information. In particular, MMPZ implores the ACHPR
to call upon the Governments of Swaziland and Zimbabwe to open up
democratic space and allow their peoples to fully exercise their
rights to freedom of association, expression, assembly and political
participation.
I thank you
for your kind attention.
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fact sheet
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