MEDIA ALERT

13 JANUARY 2003

MINISTER REITERATES INTENTION TO REVISIT MEDIA LAWS.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of State for Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo has reiterated his intention to amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). MISA-Zimbabwe however notes that the proposed amendments amount to nothing as far as democratizing the laws is concerned.

Minister Moyo made the announcement in an address to Army Officer in Harare on 12 March 2003. He also announced that the Department of Information and Publicity is also coming up with modalities on how to licence community-broadcasting stations. In the BSA Amendment Bill available, there is however no mention of any amendments to the “Community broadcasting” sections. Minister Moyo said that community broadcasters might be licensed for up to ten years and these licenses would be renewable. Minister Moyo said that AIPPA had created a lot of controversy, but he believes that the Act is meant to open up information on various national issues.

“Every nation is entitled to protect its interest through the legal means available to it. AIPPA should be seen as a defence to democracy, our democracy not anyone’s democracy, but our democracy based on our history of cultural heritage,” said Moyo.

The Minister did not fully explain what he meant by his statements. He however went further to say that the amendments to these laws are meant to clarify that position.

“We are amending it to clarify that position. We are not amending it because somebody has put us under a lot of pressure but because the time it was enunciated the temperatures were very high,” said Moyo.

“Now its time that we have to sit down and rationalize because the same environment that existed then might come back and we want to ensure that there would be no leakages. We believe the message was sent and it was heard,” said Moyo.

Under AIPPA 21 media workers all from the private media have been arrested to date. Many have been arrested more than once. Many more have also been arrested, some under Zimbabwe’s laws enacted in the colonial era such as the Entertainment and Censorship Act, the Protected Areas Act and the newly passed Public Order and Security Act. It must also be noted that since the enactment of the BSA in April 2001, no private broadcasters have been licensed. On the contrary Joy TV closed and Voice of the People Communications Trust (VOP) had its offices bombed.

In reports broadcast by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Minister Moyo was quoted as having said that the amendments are being made because of internal and external pressure being exerted on Zimbabwe. The South Africa President Thabo Mbeki and His Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo have already come out in the open that the Zimbabwe government is amending its repressive laws. MISA-Zimbabwe notes that although these laws are being amended the amendments are not positive at all as they seek, in the case of AIPPA, to entrench the arbitrary and qausi judicial powers of the Media and Information Commission. Although removing the criminal element in section 80 as relating to the writing and publishing of falsehoods, the Amendment seeks to extend the definition of a “journalists” to affect even those involved in civic education. Anyone who publishes anything, be it a church newsletter or on HIV/AIDS will be deemed to be a journalist.[1] The BSA Amendment Bill defines or adds penalties of breaching the licence regulations that were left out in the BSA Act. Again there is nothing on Community broadcasting as announced by the Minister. The BSA amendment Bill is without any effect of the important and repressive sections of the law. MISA-Zimbabwe has conveyed these concerns to the High Commissioners of South Africa, Nigeria and Australia in separate meetings in February and March. Promises were made by the High Commissioners that this information will be passed to their respective leaders.

END

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[1] Those interested in the full version of the MISA-Zimbabwe critique of the amendments can contact MISA-Zimbabwe to get a copy

Rashweat Mukundu
Research and Information Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
221 Fife Ave
Box HR 8113
Harare
Zimbabwe
Phone 00 263 4 712 841 , 735 441/2
Mobile 00 263 4 11 602 685
E Mail [email protected]