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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
The two journalists were remanded out
of custody until May 22.
In a front-page story on April 27,
“The Daily News” apologised to the
ruling party and to the government after
it was revealed that the husband of
the victim had misled the newspaper.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-05-31
INSTITUTION(S): National Development
Association (NDA)
VIOLATION(S): Victory
The Zimbabwe High Court has ordered
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC) to start airing the
banned programme Talk to the Nation
within five days. The ZBC banned the
programme in July 2001. Talk to the
Nation is sponsored by the National
Development Association (NDA).
High Court Judge Justice Paradza
said the matter was simply a contractual
dispute, and ruled that the ZBC
unlawfully terminated the programme
in violation of the contract. “This matter
to me is a simple and straightforward
contractual dispute. I am satisfied
that the ZBC unlawfully terminated
the contract, so the NDA is
granted relief,” Justice Paradza said in
his judgment.
NDA’s programme was banned on
June 4 2001. The ZBC and NDA had
signed a contract on March 24, 2001.
The judgment specifies that the remainder
of NDA’s 26 programmes are
to be aired over the next 23 consecutive
weeks, starting on Thursday June
6, 2002 at 9:00 p.m. (local time). The
ZBC was ordered to make available
the personnel, equipment and studio
facilities that are necessary for the
broadcasting of the programme.
230 So This Is Democracy?
Justice Paradza said the terms used
to ban the NDA’s programme were
unlawful and the ZBC had failed to
substantiate its arguments to the court.
Advocate Adam Kara, representing
Information and Publicity Minister
Jonathan Moyo and the ZBC, said the
programme was cancelled on policy
grounds and was lawful in terms of the
ZBC Commercialisation Act. He further
said that the cancellation of the
programme had not prejudiced the
NDA, which could not claim airtime.
Kara also argued that since the programme
was a live production, it was
extremely difficult to edit, became a
“free for all,” and caused unnecessary
alarm to some viewers. He further argued
that since the ZBC had full editorial
control and production of programmes,
the corporation was entitled
to withdraw the production. Kara had
also argued that Moyo be removed as
a respondent in the matter, arguing that
the Minister was not involved in the
ZBC’s day-to-day operations.
However, the NDA’s lawyer, Advocate
Pearson Nherere, argued that the
NDA had not breached the agreement
it entered into with the ZBC. He added
that the reasons given for the cancellation
were unjustifiable in terms of the
contract entered into. He further argued
that Minister Moyo was behind the
banning of the programme and was
therefore rightfully cited as a respondent.
Nherere also stated that by cancelling
the programme, the ZBC was
denying members of the public their
constitutional right to freedom of expression,
since the ZBC is a public institution.
The court heard that Munyaradzi
Hwengwere, then the principal press
secretary in the Department of Infor-