Misa appeals for pressure vs. snoop bill

ption of Communications Bill was a ‘blatant and outright invasion of privacy and infringement of the right to receive and impart ideas without interference with one’s correspondence’. To the delight of bodies lobbying against Zimbabwe’s clamp down on press and personal freedoms, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) adopted a resolution in December that was critical of the human rights situation. But MISA-Zimbabwe said it is concerned that the African Commission, which finished its latest meeting in the Gambia on May 25, deferred to its next meeting another 12 communications filed by organisations in Zimbabwe because the Mugabe regime had not responded in time. The deferred issues include a submission that the law forcing media houses and journalists to register with a state-run commission violates the African Charter, and the continued banning of The Daily News and its sister Sunday paper.
The bill to permit snooping on emails and phone calls, which includes trying to force ISPs to buy expensive equipment to do this, was gazetted May 26. Apart from being patently undemocratic, the bill ignores a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that similar provisions in the Post and Telecommunications Act were unconstitutional.