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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
publishing falsehoods. Despite the
government’s admission that Section
80 is unconstitutional, on 28 October,
the Attorney General’s Office instructed
that Nyarota and Mudiwa be
further remanded until 27 February
2003. Initially the state had undertaken
to either provide them with a trial date
or to remove them from formal remand
when they last appeared at the Harare
Magistrates’ Court on 23 July 2002.
Fatima Maxwell, the senior public
prosecutor for the Eastern Region, admitted
she had not read the bill amending
the AIPPA and noted that she had
been instructed by her superiors to
have the journalists’ case further remanded.
Advocate Chris Andersen had successfully
applied for the journalists’
case to be referred to the Supreme
Court on 23 July, to test its constitutionality.
Andersen argued that Section
80 of the AIPPA failed to define journalistic
privilege and falsehood, and
did not specify that intent was a prerequisite
for the offence.
Clause 20 of the amendment bill
seeks to substitute Section 80 because
it is “ultra vires” the Zimbabwean
Constitution. “The new provision proposes
to frame the offence of ‘abuse
of journalistic privilege’ in a manner
that avoids any apparent conflict with
the constitutional [guarantee of] freedom
of expression,” the clause reads.
The clause also seeks to reduce the
maximum fine of Z$200,000 (approx.
US$3,600) that can be imposed on a
person convicted of the offence to
Z$80,000 (approx. US$1,400). However,
the maximum two-year jail term
will remain.
The proposed substitution reads: “A
journalist who abuses his journalistic
248 So This Is Democracy?
privilege by intentionally or recklessly
falsifying information, or maliciously
or fraudulently fabricating information,
or publishing any statement
knowing it to be false or without having
reasonable grounds for believing
it to be true and recklessly, or with
malicious or fraudulent intent, representing
it as a true statement, or committing
or facilitating the commission
of a criminal offence shall be guilty of
an offence.”
Nyarota and Mudiwa are among
several journalists who were arrested
following the publication of a April 23
article in which “The Daily News” reported
that two young girls had witnessed
the beheading of their mother
in the rural area of Magunje, allegedly
by Zimbabwe African National Union-
Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) supporters.
In a April 27 front-page article, “The
Daily News” apologised to the ruling
ZANU-PF party and to the government
after it was revealed that the victim’s
husband may have misled the
newspaper.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-11-20
INSTITUTION(S): Media in Zimbabwe
VIOLATION(S): Threatened
On November 18, 2002, Minister of
Information and Publicity Jonathan
Moyo verbally attacked the private
media for what he called its “anti-nation”
and “anti-government” reporting.
Moyo, who was addressing army
officers in Harare, said that the private
media, especially “The Daily News”
newspaper, was being used by Western
powers to attack the government,
the country’s values and traditions.