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No change in restrictive media landscape in Zim since last ACHPR
session in May 2008
Buhlebenkosi Moyo, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
November 13, 2008
Madam Chairperson
and Commissioners, MMPZ is disappointed that Zimbabwe's restricted
media landscape has remained unchanged since the last session in
Swaziland despite this Commission's long-standing recommendations
to the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that its citizens are not
restricted in their enjoyment of their constitutionally guaranteed
rights to freedom of expression.
Despite the
fact that Article 19 of the power-sharing agreement
signed in September by Zimbabwe's major political parties
acknowledges the need for a free and diverse media environment,
it remains silent on repealing repressive media laws, such as the
notorious Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which
continue to be selectively applied against dissenting voices.
The clause also
actually promotes the restriction of media diversity by recommending
that local radio broadcasters operating from abroad stop their activities
and be repatriated while the draconian laws that led to the creation
of these 'exiled' stations remain in place.
While Article
19 acknowledges that the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe should
register new broadcasters, it gives no deadline for when this should
happen nor suggests how this can be achieved under the present restrictive
media laws governing broadcasting.
Furthermore,
The Daily News and its sister Sunday paper, which served as important
alternative sources of information for Zimbabweans and were clearly
the country's most popular newspapers, remain banned from
operating to this day.
In addition
to severely restricting local media practice, Madam Chairperson,
the authorities also continue to block access to foreign media seeking
to cover the Zimbabwean story, especially those they deem to be
hostile, such as the BBC, CNN and E-TV, thus depriving Zimbabweans
of a wide selection of sources of information.
Journalists
also continue to be harassed, arrested and prosecuted under the
country's repressive media laws, and the government-appointed
Media Commission that approves those who practice journalism continues
to operate despite the fact that it is no longer legally constituted.
In short, Madam
Chair, journalism in Zimbabwe remains a dangerous and risky occupation
inviting criminal prosecution except for the privileged few.
Such an environment
has given rise to a media "wasteland" overwhelmingly
dominated by government-controlled propaganda outlets. For example,
there is no independent alternative source of information to the
government's two daily newspapers.
MMPZ notes with
singular concern that these papers (those given to the people of
Zimbabwe by the Nigerian government at Zimbabwe's independence)
continue to be used as messengers of hate language, particularly
against the political opposition, even at this time when the country
anxiously awaits the conclusion of inter-party talks that are supposed
to usher in a new, cooperative era of government.
Madam Chair,
freedom of expression (and the right to be informed) are basic human
rights that continue to be severely curtailed in our country because
the authorities lack the political will to implement the recommendations
of this Commission.
As we speak,
ordinary citizens continue to be excluded from providing any input
into negotiations to form a new government, and because of the restrictive
media environment, they have been unable to express their opinions
freely about the course of events unfolding in our country that,
no doubt, will have profound effects on our destiny.
MMPZ urges the
Commission to impress upon the prevailing authorities of the need
to respect internationally accepted human rights standards, especially
those governing freedom of expression. For without true media reform
in Zimbabwe - and particularly one that leads to an end to
the abuse of the media under government's control -
there can be no chance that Zimbabweans' most fervent hope
for a fair, just and compassionate society under a government of
national unity will ever be fulfilled.
In conclusion
Madam Chair, we recommend that:
- The Commission
condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing abuse of the public
media by the present authorities;
- The Commission
urges any new government emerging from the present negotiations
to implement the recommendations of this Commission's 2002
fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe with the utmost urgency.
- The Commission
recommends that the new government wholeheartedly embrace the
spirit of the power-sharing agreement that envisages a free and
diverse media environment by abolishing all those laws abridging
freedom of expression and the right to be informed.
- Specifically,
the Commission recommends the repeal of AIPPA in its entirety
and those sections of the Public
Order and Security Act that unreasonably constrain freedom
of association and assembly.
- The Commission
urges the new government to remove the restrictive provisions
of the Broadcasting
Services Act and to establish, as a matter of urgency, an
independent, representative Broadcasting Authority responsible
for the issuing of broadcasting licences to regulate the airwaves
fairly and without political interference.
- The Commission
urges the complete reform of the public service broadcaster and
its re-establishment under an independent, representative body
that will safeguard its editorial independence and ensure that
it fulfills its public mandate to report events accurately and
impartially and reflect fairly the opinions of all sections of
Zimbabwean society.
Visit the MMPZ
fact
sheet
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