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African councils back media self-regulation
MISA-Zimbabwe
May 10, 2006

Delegates meeting in Bagamayo, Tanzania at an Eastern and Southern African Media Councils Conference pledged their support for the ongoing campaign to establish an independent self- regulatory media council in Zimbabwe.

In a resolution passed at the end of the conference held on 2 – 3 May 2006, the delegates noted that under universally accepted values, freedom of communication which includes freedom of expression, media freedom and the right to information, were fundamental human rights.

The delegates stressed that non-statutory, voluntary and independent media councils were, therefore, integral to effective self-regulation free of government control.

"It is hereby resolved that the delegates to this conference pledge their support to the campaign for a voluntary media council in Zimbabwe and that we encourage all stakeholders in this matter to resolve, in an expeditious manner, any issues that remain as barriers to this result," said the delegates.

Zimbabwe's widely condemned Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act provides for compulsory registration of media houses and licensing of journalists with the state-controlled Media and Information Commission in contravention of the charters and conventions signed by President Robert Mugabe's government, notably the Windhoek Declaration, African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa.

The Banjul Declaration states that self-regulation is the best system of instilling professionalism in the media.

Delegates to the conference who included Mathew Takaona, the president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, were drawn from the Netherlands, Tanzania, Lesotho, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya and the World Association of Press Councils.

The conference also noted the positive developments in Eastern and Southern Africa regarding the establishment of self-regulatory media councils and the leadership of the Media Council of Tanzania in promoting such bodies and providing a working model for emulation.

Plans to set up a similar structure in Zimbabwe are being spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, MISA-Zimbabwe and the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe.

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