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Media commissioner spurns reappointment
MISA-Zimbabwe
Janaury 27, 2006

Jonathan Maphenduka, who resigned as a board member of the Media and Information Commission (MIC) in protest against its partisan decision-making style has spurned his reappointment to the government-controlled media regulatory body.

In an interview with the weekly Zimbabwe Independent published on 27 January 2006, Maphenduka said he was not accepting the reappointment because it was "unprocedural".

He said the decision to bring him back as commissioner had not been officially communicated to him.

Maphenduka resigned from the MIC in August last year in protest against the Commission’s decision to deny Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the Daily News and Daily News on Sunday an operating licence in terms of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The former commissioner, who described AIPPA as a bad law, said he had faxed and posted his proposals on amending the Act to the Minister of Information Dr Tichaona Jokonya to which there was no response.

He said he had also expressed his reservations on the appointment of commissioner Daphne Tomana citing conflict of interest given that her husband, Johannes, was the MIC lawyer.

Maphenduka told the Zimbabwe Independent that he had received "a very strange" explanation from MIC chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso to the effect that the problem was not with Mrs Tomana, but with her husband.

"Mr Tomana is the only lawyer who understands media law," Mahoso reportedly told Maphenduka.

"I am not going back. This is the end of the whole thing. The MIC eagle, which is its board, remains in the air ready to swoop on privately-owned newspapers," said Maphenduka.

The present condition is unacceptable. It is untenable."

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