(MISA/IFEX) – On Thursday 8 March 2001, Masvingo South Member of Parliament (MP) Eddison Zvobgo accused the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) of trying to introduce unconstitutional and irrational laws governing public broadcasting in Zimbabwe. Zvobgo, who was heckled by Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa while debating the regulations in […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On Thursday 8 March 2001, Masvingo South Member of Parliament (MP) Eddison Zvobgo accused the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) of trying to introduce unconstitutional and irrational laws governing public broadcasting in Zimbabwe.
Zvobgo, who was heckled by Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa while debating the regulations in parliament, said it was illegal for the government to
decree that political parties could not own broadcasting stations. This, he noted, would limit freedom of expression.
Presenting the parliamentary legal committee’s report on broadcasting regulations announced in 2000, Zvobgo said some of the regulations were not consistent with the protection to the right to freedom of expression as provided in Section 20 (1) of the constitution.
The government regulations were promulgated under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Broadcasting) Regulations of 2000, in a move spearheaded by Minister of Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo to clamp down on Capital Radio.
Zvobgo, who chaired the three-member committee, singled out eight sections of the regulations which he said were not in line with the constitution. Zvobgo said the committee was established by the constitution to look into regulations or bills and then render an opinion as to whether they infringed on the bill of rights or the constitution.
Said Zvobgo: “Insofar as the regulations require the possession of a licence issued by government before one can broadcast, they are clearly a limitation or derogation of freedom of expression. “To place the need for the authority’s consent before one can do what is an integral part of freedom of expression is undoubtedly a hindrance or a limitation to that freedom.”
Citing the Capital Radio saga, in which the Supreme Court struck down the ZBC monopoly, he said: “If it is unconstitutional to limit one, it is also unconstitutional to limit two â¦There is no technical justification, in the sense of frequency shortage, to warrant this limitation of freedom of speech.”
Zvobgo added that while the number of national broadcasters has to be limited, it was unconstitutional to limit it to one private broadcaster. “In the view of the committee, it is very difficult to understand, we have termed it irrational that it cannot be said to be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”
The regulations require that cable and satellite broadcasters be licensed. To this, Zvobgo said: “They are unconstitutional as being undue and unjustified and, indeed, unjustifiable limitation on freedom of expression.”
On the clause regulating the content of programmes, Zvobgo said: “Whatever national interest the framers of the regulations had in mind, that national interest is not catered for in the constitution. An abridgement of a guaranteed right should not be arbitrary.”
He added that the regulation requiring seventy five percent local content was unreasonable, as there was no need at all to make all stations sound or look alike.
As for the government giving itself the right to broadcast on every station at its request, he said the government has no greater right to be heard than anybody else in a democratic society.
Background Information
On 22 September a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court nullified the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s (ZBC) broadcasting monopoly. The judgement made null and void the Broadcasting Act under which ZBC was pronounced the sole broadcaster in Zimbabwe. The legislative vacuum was filled by the 4 October New Broadcasting Regulations, which came under the Presidential Powers Act.
The challenge to the ZBC monopoly was made by Capital Radio, a prospective radio broadcasting in Zimbabwe.
