A constitutional dispute between Capitol Radio Private Limited and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Authority (BAZ) over the legality of the latter(BAZ)will begin at the Supreme Court on June 19.
Chief justice Godfrey Chidyausiku together with Justice Sandura, Cheda, Gwaunza and Malaba will hear the matter. Yesterday, 30 may, the Supreme Court granted an application for postponement of the matter, filed by the Attorney General's Office, which is for the respondent in the matter together with the Authority and the Minister of State for Information and
Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo.
The respondents being represented by the AG's office however intend to
apply for a condonation for late filing of documents before the main application
is heard. The state has up to Tuesday 4 June to do this. The matter that was set for hearing yesterday, 30 May, was postponed after Ms Yvonne Dondo appearing for the respondents sought a two-week postponement to allow her
to adequately prepare her heads of arguments. She told the court that the matter was of national importance and interest and therefore she needed more time to prepare. A law Officer who was initially assigned the matter
resigned from the AG's office resulting in the delay according to Dondo.
She also said that critical shortage of staff in the AG's office had contributed
to this problem.
The application for postponement was however opposed by Advocate Adrian De
Bourbon appearing for Capitol Radio. Advocate De Bourbon said that the respondents had to be barred from filing their papers because they had
failed to abide by the rules of the court.
Capitol Radio won its first constitutional case against the government in September 2000, which resulted in the monopoly of the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation being scrapped.
END

Rashweat Mukundu
Research and Information Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
221 Fife Ave
Box HR 8113
Harare
Zimbabwe
Phone: 00 263 4 721 841, 735 441-2
Cell : 00 263 4 011 602 685
E mail: [email protected]