Senior Zimbabwe official admits media laws restrictive

HARARE - A senior government official says plans are underway to reform repressive media laws in the country that have seen the closure of many publications such as the independent Daily News newspaper and its sister publication, The Daily News On Sunday.

Laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and Public Order and Security Act (POSA) will be amended to ensure they are in sync with provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), Justice Permanent Secretary David Mangota has said.

Mangota, who is leading the government delegation to the 46th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR underway in Banjul, The Gambia, was responding to a report presented by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa Commissioner Pansy Tlakula.

“We want to advise the Commission that we have not received the (Commission’s) communication of 30 June 2009 but we are, however, aware of the shortcomings of this legislation and we are already addressing this,” said Mangota.

He was referring to the ACHPR’s decision of June 2009 in which it ruled that section 79 and 80 of AIPPA contravene Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and should be repealed.

This followed a complaint filed against the government by the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ), MISA-Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) challenging the legality of sections 79 and 80 of AIPPA.

The sections in question deal with compulsory accreditation of journalists, optional accreditation of part time or freelance journalists, prohibition of the accreditation of non- citizens and abuse of journalistic privileges in relation to publication of falsehoods and injurious statements.

Mangota’s acknowledgement of the restrictive nature of the laws in question comes on the backdrop of his earlier response to concerns raised by the South African Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe NGO Forum on Human Rights and Human Rights Institute of Southern Africa (HURISA) over continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Mangota had said the problematic aspects of these laws had “since been dealt with” following the outcome of the 2002 ACHPR fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe.  

He urged the Zimbabwe NGO Forum on Human Rights to stop lobbying the ACHPR but to instead lobby Zimbabwean legislators to remove these laws from the statute books.

MISA-Zimbabwe had raised concerns over the “stalled media reforms” as pledged under the Global Political Agreement which gave birth to Zimbabwe’s inclusive government.

In turn, the Media Monitoring Project in Zimbabwe (MMPZ) brought the Commission’s attention to the government’s non-compliance with its ruling that section 79 and 80 of AIPPA be repealed as well as the delay in constituting the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).

Stewart Nyakotyo who is part of the government delegation, informed the Commission that “media issues in Zimbabwe are being addressed by the inclusive government and that parliament was seized with the matters at hand. 

On the ZMC, Nyakotyo said parliament has “been seized with the process and recommendations had been forwarded to the President”. 

For us, it is work in progress and we would like to have this placed on record that there are no delays as such,” he said.

Meanwhile, following the government’s  invitation during the 45th Ordinary Session for the Commission to undertake a promotional mission to Zimbabwe during its inter-session, Commissioner Musa Ngary Bitaye apologised on behalf of the Commission for their failure to fulfil the mission due to other tight schedules.

Commissioner Bitaye asked the government to extend another invitation to the Commission. The ACHPR mission will comprise, among others, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information and Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa.

The government responded by extending yet another invitation for the Commission to undertake a promotional visit to Zimbabwe which was duly accepted – the dates of which will be agreed upon.