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Information Minister and his Permanent Secretary face contempt of court charges
MISA-Zimbabwe
June 18, 2009

The Minister for Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu and his Permanent Secretary, George Charamba face contempt of court charges after four freelance journalists were barred from covering the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit in violation of a High Court ruling authorising the journalists to cover the summit without accreditation.

On 5 June 2009 High Court Judge Justice Bharat Patel granted the four freelance journalists Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire an interim order barring Shamu, Charamba, and the erstwhile Media Information Commission (MIC) chairman Dr Tafataona Mahoso from interfering with the four journalists in their work.

Unfortunately, when the four journalists arrived in the resort town of Victoria Falls where the Summit was taking place on 7 June 2009 they were turned away by security details at the venue. The security details insisted that the journalists despite the production of the High Court order could not cover the event as they were not on the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity's list of journalists accredited to cover the summit.

Shamu, Charamba and Mahoso have remained adamant in their refusal to come to terms with the fact that MIC which was set up in 2002 is now defunct. The MIC was disbanded by operation of the law after the promulgation of Act No. 20 on 11 January 2008 which amended the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and was replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC). The ZMC is yet to be constituted.

Selby Hwacha, who is representing the journalists was quoted as saying,"I am working on contempt of court papers and we hope to file them this week".

Background

The four journalists successfully challenged the legal status of the Media and Information Commission (MIC) with the High Court, following a directive by the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity instructing all journalists wishing to cover the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit set for 7 to 9 June 2009 in Victoria Falls to seek accreditation with the MIC.

In terms of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), as amended in January 2008, the MIC led by Tafataona Mahoso no longer exists. Section 38 of statutory instrument No 20 of 2007 notes the creation of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) which replaces the MIC. To date, the ZMC has not been constituted.

Justice Patel ruled that the applicants be granted interim relief sought and ordered that Charamba and Shamu make a retraction of the statements published on 22, 23 and 24 May relating to matters of accreditation of journalists and media houses by the MIC and that the applicants be allowed to cover the COMESA Summit without any need to produce accreditation cards.

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