Information Commission complies with the recent
Reporters Without Borders has urged the MIC to comply with the order immediately.
The publishers would write to the MIC this week reminding them that in terms of the Act (AIPPA) they have 30 days to consider the application and grant the licence, said Sam Nkomo, chief executive of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ).
“They have our application already. We have complied with the requirements of the law and the chairman himself (Tafataona Mahoso) conceded in court that the application met the MIC’s requirements,” he said.
“The MIC has been misinterpreting the Chidyausiku judgement but the Makarau judgement has confirmed what the Supreme Court ruled initially – that the MIC must reconsider our application. The commission has been abusing the justice system,” explained Nkomo.
The 30 day period specified by the act will be up on March 8 and we expect to be granted a licence by then.
In its ruling last week, the high court set aside the MIC’s decision to deny the paper a licence in response to a complaint filed last July by ANZ’s lawyers pointing out that the Mahoso had refused to recuse himself from the case, even though the Supreme Court had found him to be biased.
High Court judge Rita Makarau, said the MIC’s refusal to approve the licence was biased and that it should therefore reconsider the request.
The legal battle has been ongoing since the Daily News and its Sunday edition were banned in September 2003. In February 2004, the battle reached the Supreme Court, which took a year to issue a ruling. Because of enormous financial difficulties and its desire not to expose its journalists to the possibility of arrest, the Daily News decided to stop publishing pending a resolution of the dispute. – Own correspondent