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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Statement
to negotiating parties & incoming MPs on the media situation
obtaining in Zimbabwe
Media
Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ)
August 21, 2008
The Media Alliance
of Zimbabwe (MAZ) notes with concern that since the signing of the
Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) by political parties on 27 July 2008,
the media environment in Zimbabwe has not shown any signs of embracing
the principles of freedom of expression or access to information.
MAZ also notes with great trepidation that the harassment, torture,
threats and arbitrary prosecution of journalists and media workers
have continued without any corrective action by those in control
of the state security services, or any statements of condemnation
or redress from the political parties involved in the current mediation
process.
MAZ holds that this situation
and these circumstances still negatively inform and influence Zimbabwe's
media environment and cannot be conducive to any mediation process.
It is near impossible
for MAZ to welcome any progress made in direct relation to the current
negotiations in an environment that continues to flout Zimbabweans'
rights to free expression, access to information, media freedom
and the prevention of unlawful detention and torture.
Further, MAZ is deeply
disturbed by the current manipulation of the government-controlled
media, which has shut out dissenting voices and provides only a
partial and partisan account of the talks. What is urgently required
is a media that informs the public of the issues at stake and allows
a variety of views to be heard. Journalists should not behave as
government public relations officers and should adhere to professional
standards. That is clearly not the case at present.
The Alliance therefore,
recommends to the political parties involved in the negotiations,
the SADC appointed mediator, President Mbeki of South Africa, the
Chair of the African Union Commission, Mr. J. Ping, the UN Special
Representative to Zimbabwe, Mr H. Menkerios, and Members of Parliament
elect of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe, that any meaningful negotiations
for the people of Zimbabwe must ensure the following:
a) That Zimbabwe
totally repeals the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Broadcasting
Services Act and the Interception
of Communications Act.
b) A constitutional
provision that explicitly guarantees Freedom of the Press in line
with other democratic practices.
c) Recognition
of the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, a professional media
self-regulatory body that was endorsed by all media stakeholders
in 2007; and the abolition of the statutory regulatory body, the
Media and Information Commission, which has been open to official
abuse.
d) Enactment
of media laws that specifically guarantee freedom of the media to
criticise public office bearers and not unnecessarily protect them
from public scrutiny. (These will also take into account that there
are adequate libel laws that protect individuals from invasion of
privacy.
e) Enactment
of a broadcasting law that promotes media diversity through a three-tier
system as espoused in the African Charter on Broadcasting of 1991
to which Zimbabwe is signatory. The current Broadcasting Services
Act has failed the nation and the test of democracy in the past
eight years.
f) The transformation
of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Zimpapers from state-controlled
media to truly public media that serve all Zimbabweans.
g) The enactment
of a broadcasting law that encourages foreign investment in the
media for growth of the industry.
h) Enactment
of enabling legislation that recognises the convergence of broadcast,
telephony and other information communication technologies (ICT's);
and the rescinding of regulations that impede cost-effective access
by the public to ICT's, including wireless spectrum and voice
over internet protocol services.
i) An immediate
cessation to the continuing climate of repression in the country,
including the arrest, assault and incarceration of journalists and
media workers, and the use of hate speech by those in public office
against alternative voices. People should not be afraid to air their
views.
Conclusion
Should these
recommendations be adhered to, it is the strong view of MAZ that
the right to freedom of expression, which is the cornerstone of
any democracy, will allow for the mediation process to be more meaningful
to the people of Zimbabwe. MAZ therefore calls upon the negotiators
and incoming MPs to take into account issues of media freedom and
freedom of expression if true democracy is to be realised in Zimbabwe.
*MAZ - the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe - comprises Misa
Zimbabwe, the Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe National Editors
Forum, and the Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists.
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