Journalists should be involved when laws that govern their operations are crafted, says National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration Minister Moses Mzila-Ndlovu.
Addressing journalists at Gwanda Press Club on 12 March 2011, Mzila-Ndlovu said it was disheartening that journalists views were not considered each time government introduced new media legislation. Journalists should be involved when media reform legislation is being promulgated. I do not think parliamentarians are the best people to come up with laws that deal with the Press.
The meeting was organised by the MISA-Zimbabwes Gwanda Advocacy under the theme: The Envisaged Media Law Reforms Ahead of Elections Mapping the Way Forward. Ndlovu said when the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was introduced in Parliament, the Movement for Democratic Change opposed it, on the grounds that the law was draconian. AIPPA was enacted in 2002.
However, we lost in terms of numbers because those who were in Zanu PF voted unanimously for it. We felt that the law would restrict media practitioners from accessing information, he said. He urged journalists to rally together to defend media freedom and freedom of expression. Ndlovu said it was agreed under the Global Political Agreement that media reforms were necessary. However, to date nothing concrete has been done.
Post published in: Politics