Media Freedom and Access to Information Should Be Constitutional Rights!
In this issue: Arrests, detention of journalists should be condemned: by Margaret Rangarira and David Makacha The month of February 2011 saw the inclusive government marking its second anniversary in office without much cause for celebration save for the relative economic stability.
That the occasion of the birth of the inclusive government came and went without much fanfare should not be surprising given the issues that remained unresolved in terms of full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Parties to the agreement, namely Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M, agreed among other issues that:
The government shall ensure the immediate processing by the appropriate authorities of all applications for re-registration and registration in terms of both the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) as well as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Article 19 of the GPA also acknowledges the authorities failure to license private broadcasters under the Broadcasting Services Act. Principals of the three signatory parties then raised concern that this might have given rise to external radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe, which were not in Zimbabwes interest.
Two years after the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009, no practical steps have been taken to license new privately owned players in the broadcasting sector. As a result, Zimbabwe still retains the dubious distinction of being among the few countries that do not have privately owned commercial television/radio stations, not to speak of community radios.
Even more worrying is the failure by the authorities to secure the security of journalists conducting their lawful professional duties. Principals to the GPA agreed and pledged to respect the right to freedom of expression and communication. However arrests, harassment and detention of journalists continues despite that undertaking.
While such cases are sporadic, the fact that they still occur at the instigation of complainants who feel wronged by stories published, adds weight to calls for an end to criminalization of journalism in Zimbabwe through laws such as Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and Criminal Defamation Law, among others. In other democracies that guarantee and respect media freedom as enshrined in their constitutions, cases of defamation do not warrant the arrests of journalists.
The democratic practice as stipulated in terms of the Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa is for any aggrieved persons or parties to raise or settle their complaints through self-regulatory complaints mechanisms. The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Banjul Declaration clearly and unambiguously set the principles and benchmarks on freedom of expression and access to information and that of media freedom underpinned by self-regulation of the media.
In line with this, any aggrieved persons should therefore lodge their complaints against unprofessional conduct on the part of the media with the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, a self regulatory body set up by Zimbabwean media practitioners and civic society. Alternatively, redress can be sought through civil suits.
But the authorities have continued to entrench statutory regulation despite the country being a state party to the ACHPR and other regional and international instruments that safeguard media freedom, freedom of expression and citizens right to access information through diverse sources. Lately, the state has been using the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with publication of false statements prejudicial to the state and publication of false statements that undermines public confidence in the security agencies.
Nqobani Ndlovu a reporter with the private weekly The Standard and the editor Nevanji Madanhire are being charged under this law. ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke attempted to sue Golden Maunganidze, the editor of Masvingo weekly paper, The Mirror, for criminal defamation after the paper published a satirical article allegedly linking him to a sex scandal even though the article in question did not mention names.
Commendably, the state said there were no grounds to warrant prosecution. Nevertheless, the police had prior to that decision still proceeded to arrest Maunganidze reportedly at the instigation of the complainant. In Mutare a freelance journalist Sydney Saize was arrested for taking photographs of robbers who attempted to escape from custody without permission. He was later released without any charges.
Other media workers have not been spared either. Vendors selling copies of the privately owned daily NewsDay particularly in Harare were reportedly harassed by suspected ZANU PF supporters who accused the paper of being anti- ZANU PF and anti-government. In some instances copies of the daily were destroyed while the vendors were threatened.
All these cases occurred during the month of February 2011 alone raising concern on the authorities commitment to secure media freedom and the citizens right to access information from alternative sources of information.
MISA-Zimbabwe therefore reiterates its calls for the repeal of repressive legislation such as AIPPA, Broadcasting Services Act, Criminal Defamation Law and Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, among others, to allow media freedom and citizens full enjoyment of their freedom of expression and right to access to information held by both public and private bodies.
Margaret Rangarira and David Makacha are interns with MISA-Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Politics