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Spying Bill redrafted
MISA-Zimbabwe
November 03, 2006

The government has redrafted the controversial Interception of Communications Bill, 2006 which is designed to spy into telephone and e-mail messages following strong objections on its constitutionality by the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC).

PLC chairman Professor Welshman Ncube confirmed to MISA-Zimbabwe on 3 November 2006 that the government had considered the Committee's concerns following a meeting held with the Minister of Transport and Communications Christopher Mushowe and the Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.

"The Bill has not been withdrawn per se. The government has redrafted the Bill to cover the portions that we raised concern with and have shown us the amendments," said Ncube. "We are, however, yet to see the full version. I will only comment further when we see the full version."

MISA-Zimbabwe and its partners in the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ), Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef), leading human rights organisations, the business community, have been pushing for the withdrawal of the Bill arguing that its provisions are vague and unconstitutional as they violate the right to freedom of expression, privacy and business confidentiality.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Christopher Mushowe is also on record saying the government would revisit the Bill for purposes of removing its contentious provisions. Mushowe made the undertaking when he appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications following submissions made to the Committee by MAZ, Zinef, civic society organisations and the business community.

Background
The proposed law, which does not provide for judicial and parliamentary oversight among other contentious provisions, seeks to empower the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept.

The Bill seeks to create a monitoring centre whose function will be to facilitate authorised interception of communications.

It empowers the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephonic, e-mail and cellphone messages.

The Bill also empowers state agencies to open mail passing through the post and through licensed courier service providers.

This comes despite a Supreme Court ruling in 2004 which declared unconstitutional Sections 98 and 103 of the Posts and Telecommunications (PTC) Act because they violated Section 20 of the Constitution.

Section 20 guarantees freedom of expression, freedom to receive and impart ideas without interference with one’s correspondence.

The Bill makes it compulsory for service providers to install at their expense software and hardware to enable them to intercept and store information as directed by the state.

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