JOHANNESBURG A special committee tasked to review the case of Zimbabwes banned Daily News newspaper has approved the papers application for an operating licence, The Zimbabwean has learnt.The Daily News that was highly critical of President Robert Mugabes government was Zimbabwes largest circulating daily paper when it was controversially banned in 2003.
The paper and its sister Daily News on Sunday were banned after they lost a Supreme Court challenge to a law requiring newspapers to register with a government media regulatory agency in order to operate in the country
But the committee said on Thursday that an application for an operating licence submitted by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) the publishers of the Daily News — met all requirements of the law and said the company should be granted a licence to publish.
However, it was not immediately clear who would issue the licence to ANZ because a new commission that will issue licences to newspapers is not yet in place while the old Media and Information Commission (MIC) was abolished in January 2008.
This letter serves to advise that your application for registration as a mass media service provider was successful, said the committee chairperson Edward Dube in a letter dated July 30 to ANZ lawyers Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans Legal Practitioners.
The Special Board Committee mandated by the then Minister of Information and Publicity to adjudicate on your application is satisfied that you have complied with the provisions of the Access to information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) as read together with Statutory Instrument 169C of 2002.
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) is therefore advised to contact the relevant authority for their licence, added Dube.
The letter was copied to Media and Information Minister Webster Shamu, his deputy James Timba, Permanent Secretary George Charamba and Principal Director Silvester Maunganidze.
The committee also advised Shamu in a separate letter of its decision to grant ANZ a licence.
Zimbabwe has long been regarded as one of the most difficult countries for the media because of its tough laws designed to stifle dissent and criticism of President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party who are blamed for ruining the once prosperous nation.
For example, AIPPA required journalists to obtain licences from the MIC in order to practise in Zimbabwe. The commission could withdraw licences from journalists who failed to conform.
Journalists caught practising without a licence faced a two-year jail term under AIPPA while newspapers operating without licences faced closure and seizure of their property by the state.
There are no independent broadcasters in Zimbabwe. The state-owned ZBC runs the countrys only television and radio stations, all tightly controlled by government, which has the final say on senior editorial and managerial appointments.
Former opposition leader and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe who formed a power sharing government in February agreed last September on the need for media reform to create a free and diverse media environment.
Last week, Shamu sealed agreements with Cable News Network (CNN) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Harare, allowing the two organisations banned from reporting in Zimbabwe since 2002 to return.
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