|
Back to Index
Minister
has mandate to appoint committee to register ANZ
MISA-Zimbabwe
June 09, 2006
The Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) insists that the Minister of Information
and Publicity Dr Tichaona Jokonya, contrary to his assertions, has
the powers to appoint an ad hoc committee to deal with the registration
of the media house.
In papers filed
with the High Court, ANZ acting chief executive officer John Gambanga,
said the Minister could appoint the committee in question because
the current Media and Information Commission (MIC) is an ad hoc
committee as its three-year term of office has since expired.
Gambanga was
responding to the Minister’s opposing papers in which Jokonya said
the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) did not
provide for the appointment of an interim committee.
Background
In his papers Jokonya says he can only appoint an independent committee
to adjudicate over the ANZ application to be licensed if AIPPA is
duly amended.
Jokonya also
opposed ANZ’s earlier application to be deemed registered, arguing
that the court did not have powers to grant the application.
ANZ, publishers
of the banned Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, have filed for
a court order seeking to be duly licensed saying the state-controlled
MIC had failed to deal with their application within a specified
period.
This followed
High Court judge Justice Rita Makarau’s judgment on 8 February 2006
in which she ruled that the MIC board chaired by Dr Tafataona Mahoso
was biased against the ANZ.
The minister
was then supposed to have appointed an independent panel to determine
the ANZ’s application.
However, Jokonya
who is cited together with the MIC as respondents in the matter,
said he cannot appoint another committee to preside over the case
because AIPPA did not provide for that.
"The way
forward would be an amendment of the Act so as to provide me with
powers to appoint an ad hoc commission whenever a situation
as in the instant arises. To appoint such a commission without it
being sanctioned by law would be ultra vires the Act and
as such the commission would be illegal," said Jokonya.
The matter is
still pending before the courts.
Visit
the MISA-Zimbabwe fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
