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An
Analysis of weaknesses in Access to Information Laws in SADC and
in Developing Countries
Freedom of
Expression Institute (FXI)
January,
2006
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Zimbabwe
It is
difficult to explore weaknesses in Zimbabwe’s Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy
Act 1 (AIPPA). Some have contended
that the Act does not give effect to the right of access
to information and therefore cannot be classified as access to information
legislation. A
misnomer about this Act that bears mention is that whilst its title
refers to freedom of information
and access to information, its provisions provide for the opposite.
The main thrust
of the Act is to give the government extensive powers to control the
media by requiring the
registration of journalists and prohibiting the abuse of free expression.2
It has been widely viewed as an instrument designed to give the
government more powers for media censorship. 3
As a result, its value as a piece of legislation enabling access
to information has been largely diminished. ZIMCODD- Organizer and
Information Officer4 with the
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) attributes
the dissonance in the purpose of the Act and its implementation
to the political climate that exists in Zimbabwe. The growth of
an independent and assertive media in Zimbabwe in the early 1990’s
is considered as one of the factors that led the government to introduce
sweeping restrictions on the media in the form of AIPPA.5
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