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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002 2002 forced to register before they know the code of conduct that will guide them. “It is like being forced to enter a house without knowing whether you are going to be whipped or given food,” said Sternford Moyo. Sternford Moyo added that Section 80, which deals with the publication of falsehoods, is excessively broad, to the extent of penalising stories such as “April Fools’ Day” jokes. In his interventions during the proceedings, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku asked state lawyer Johannes Tomana to explain and justify to the court why the Minister of State for Information and Publicity is given “so much power”. Tomana tried to trace the history of the law and link it with what he termed “irresponsible journalism”, to which the bench reminded him to relate what he was saying to the constitutionality of the law. “You are not relating to the constitutionality of the relevant sections,” said Justice Malaba. “There is [a] need to regulate, but it has to be regulation within the law. What you need to demonstrate to us is whether it has been done professionally,” said Chief Justice Chidyausiku. Chidyausiku challenged the state lawyers to justify why the law makes the publication of a falsehood a criminal offence when there is no complainant, as opposed to dealing with the matter as an ethical issue of misconduct. Tomana conceded that, where there was no complainant the law could not be said to be protecting the rights and reputations of persons and that the wording does not specifically mention the interests to be protected under the act. Justice Ziyambi noted that Section 250 So This Is Democracy? 80 (1) of the act deems a journalist guilty of an offence as opposed to being innocent until proven guilty. On November 21, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported that the government had expressed disappointment with the Attorney General for failing to draft the media law “correctly” and failing to defend the government in many cases that have come before the courts in recent months. However, it is widely believed that the Attorney General had little if any input into the media law. The Department of Information and Publicity was largely involved in this process. ALERT DATE: 2002-12-04 INSTITUTION(S): Bornwell Chakaodza, Farai Mutsaka, Fungayi Kanyuchi VIOLATION(S): Victory On December 4, 2002, a major victory for press freedom in Zimbabwe was won when a Harare magistrate dropped charges against three journalists from “The Standard”. The three journalists were accused of publishing falsehoods under the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). Editor Bornwell Chakaodza, senior reporter Farai Mutsaka and entertainment editor Fungayi Kanyuchi, all from “The Standard”, were arrested on May 16. Chakaodza and Mutsaka were charged for publishing a story revealing that the government had bought heavy anti-riot gear from Israeli arms manufacturer Beit Alfa Trailer. The government disputed the story despite confirmation from then Israeli foreign
ZIMBABWE State of the media in Southern Africa 2002 minister Shimon Peres. Chakaodza, along with Kanyuchi, also faced charges over a story that highlighted “sex for freedom deals” involving members of the police force and prostitutes in Harare. The three journalists, who had been on conditional bail since May, applied to have the charges dropped if the state failed to set a trial date by December 4. In granting the application, Magistrate Garikayi Churu stated that the state could proceed by way of summons, if the need arose. Soon after leaving the Magistrates’ Court, Chakaodza stated, “There was never any case at all. It was just sheer political harassment and a waste of time and money for both ourselves, the police and the state.” “However, this represents yet another major defeat for [Information Minister] Jonathan Moyo and very soon he will have nowhere to run. It also marks yet another milestone in our quest to emancipate the Zimbabwean media from the jaws of oppression,” he noted with delight. Earlier this year, the government enacted the AIPPA, which requires all journalists and media houses to be licenced by the Information Minister. The law also criminalises journalism by stating that anyone who publishes a story which is deemed to be inaccurate by the government could face imprisonment. Since its inception, the law has been used to victimise journalists from the independent media. Thus far, 12 independent media journalists have been arrested under the AIPPA. The Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ) is challenging the constitutionality of the AIPPA in the Supreme Court. So This Is Democracy? 251
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REGIONAL OVERVIEW State of the medi
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