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Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states thatany restrictions on the right to freedom of expression must be reasonable, necessary and justifiablein a democracy. Such restrictions should be proportionate and the harm to freedom ofexpression should not outweigh the benefits of the restrictions. However, in Zimbabwe it isalso an offence to make an abusive, indecent, obscene or false statement about the President.For such an offence, POSA imposes a fine of Z$20 000 or a one-year jail term or to both suchfine and imprisonment. The Codification Act raises the fine to Z$200 000 while the prisonterm remains the same.General Laws Amendment BillZanu-PF’s explicit intentions to narrow the democratic space were brought to the fore only inSeptember 2005 following the tabling of the General Laws Amendment Bill.This bill yet again seeks to tighten POSA by increasing the penalties against journalists convictedfor publishing statements that insult or undermine the authority of the President. Thebill, which seeks to amend several other acts, including 22 sections of POSA, has since beenreferred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.The proposed amendments seek to increase the fine imposed under Section 16 of POSA fromZ$20 000 to Z$2 million. The penalty fees for those convicted under Section 15 will now beZ$10 million or five years or both such fine and imprisonment. Unauthorised public gatheringsfor the purposes of rioting or causing disorder will attract a fine of Z$10 million.Secret service media ownership scandalThe ubiquity of this onslaught against basic freedoms gets increasingly murky in the wake ofreports that the country’s secret service, the Central Intelligence Organisation, has acquired acontrolling stake in the ‘privately owned’ Zimbabwe Mirror Newspapers Group, publishers ofthe Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror. This leaves the three financial weeklies – The FinancialGazette, Zimbabwe Standard and Zimbabwe Independent – as the only truly privately ownedpublications following the closure of the Daily News, Daily News on Sunday, Tribune and TheWeekly Times.AccreditationSection 79 of AIPPA states that the Media and Information Commission (MIC) may accreditjournalists and issue them with press cards, annually. The MIC, which is answerable to theresponsible minister and the executive, determines whether or not one is qualified to practiceas a journalist, and there are no fixed criteria related to such qualifications. Section 79 contradictsSection 20 of the constitution in that it restricts the right to freedom of expression to thosewho the minister decides to accredit. In other words, the MIC, not media houses, decides whocan work as a journalist in Zimbabwe.The resignation of veteran journalist Jonathan Maphenduka from the MIC on August 18 2005sheds light on the biased nature of the commission’s decisions. Maphenduka resigned overwhat he described as the MIC’s ill-advised decisions to close down four newspapers.In addition to the restrictive legislative environment, journalists have to contend with poorworking conditions, low salaries and an inferior skills base due to inadequate investment intraining resources and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This has affectedmorale and the quality of stories with most journalists preferring to sell their investigativeSo This Is Democracy? 2005-145-Media Institute of Southern Africa