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Big Brother now more devious
Vincent Kahiya, Zimbabwe Independent
July 20, 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707200773.html

STATE propagandists this week should be revelling at their success in creating the Pius Ncube sideshow which for a moment distracted people from empty shelves and food shortages caused by the current price war.

The hardcore porn emblazoned on the pages of the Herald and the Chronicle on Monday and Tuesday had Zimbabweans - predictably - talking about the morality of the prelate. People gathered to pore over the pictures and "expert" opinion varied on the issue. There were suggestions that the pictures were generated by a computer and therefore not real. Others were looking at the anatomy of the characters on the slides and quickly concluding that the sizes of certain body parts were not consistent.

At a car dealership I visited on Tuesday afternoon, two company executives waiting in the visitors lounge were engaged in an animated argument over the pictures. "It can't be the same woman, look at her . here, and check it on this other picture," said one, a well-known banker. "Do you see that the shapes of the . are not the same."

The other was unconvinced by this expertise in women's body parts. He maintained that the pictures were of the archbishop in the love nest. He concluded as they were heading out to their vehicles which had been brought to the front of the building that "Mudhara wacho haana choice". He should have found a younger woman.

The two gentlemen's discussion captured the tragedy of Zimbabweans in this whole saga. We have failed to look beyond the naked images that were published in the papers. Even those who brought up moral arguments for or against the priest did not see the dangers inherent in this exercise, which has fingerprints of state security agents all over it.

A lot of readers saw it as a Pius Ncube issue. But the incident has greater national implications on individuals' rights to privacy and the possibility of the government and the Media and Information Commission allowing state media to carry out similar exercises on perceived political opponents with impunity.

Going back six or so years, the Zimbabwe Mirror's editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza obtained a High Court order which barred the Daily News from further publishing material relating to his private property.

The Daily News had printed a front-page pictorial story in which properties belonging to Mandaza were shown. The photos were aerial shots taken from a plane. The paper claimed at the time that it had more photos of Mandaza's properties, resulting in the publisher rushing to court.

Commenting on the matter, then Information minister Jonathan Moyo said the Daily News should be brought to book for acts that did not respect the law.

"They behave as if they have an entitlement to violently intrude into other people's privacy with impunity. This should send a clear message not only to them but to others," said Moyo.

"People in Zimbabwe are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law and yet this paper has been pointing fingers and going to extremes. This is shameful, disgusting and should never ever be allowed," he said.

This was in the pre-Aippa era. I recall vividly government citing the Mandaza case to justify the enactment of Aippa, which became law a year later.

But in the Ncube case, the old script that purported to protect individuals' rights to privacy no longer subsists because the cast has changed. Opponents of the incumbent do not have the right to secrecy. They can be photographed naked in bed having sex and pictures publicised in papers. This is a clear example of Aippa failing the test of one of its key mandates of protecting private citizens. The law's inadequacies in facilitating access to information are well-documented.

Coming back to the two executives, one of whom did not strike me as a paragon of virtue, there is nothing that can prevent similar operations being carried out on them. It might not be a sting on their sexual conquests but their business transactions, telephone conversations with clients, emails etc.

Lest we forget, parliament recently passed the Interception of Communications Bill to spy on individuals' phones and other electronic messages. After the Pius incident, what can stop the media from publishing transcripts of a cellphone conversation between a CEO and his mistress or, worse still, the goings-on in hotel rooms occupied by opponents of the state? Don't say you have not been warned. Big Brother is becoming more devious. By the way, have telecoms companies placed orders for equipment to help government spy on us?

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