(MISA/IFEX) – The Government of Zimbabwe has delayed the tabling of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Bill to accommodate the findings of the Media Ethics Committee, which is still collecting information from “stakeholders”, the “Zimbabwe Independent” reported on Friday 26 October 2001. According to the report, last week government sources said the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The Government of Zimbabwe has delayed the tabling of the Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Bill to accommodate the findings of the Media Ethics Committee, which is still collecting information from “stakeholders”, the “Zimbabwe Independent” reported on Friday 26 October 2001.
According to the report, last week government sources said the findings of the committee would be used to justify the setting up of a statutory (legislated) media council and the enactment of stringent laws to stifle media probes of powerful people. The sources said that the bill would only be tabled in the House in 2002 and would be fast-tracked into law before the presidential election.
Deputy Attorney General Bharat Patel confirmed to the newspaper that the findings of the ethics committee led by government loyalist and Harare Polytechnic media studies lecturer, Tafataona Mahoso, would form an integral part of the legislation. “It is still being discussed by cabinet,” said Patel to the “Zimbabwe Independent”. “I would definitely think that they would include the findings of the ethics committee. If they are looking for a code of ethics, the findings should form an integral component. They are waiting for the input,” he said.
Independent newspapers have largely snubbed the ethics committee, which is comprised of allies of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. The major concern is that there are already a lot of bad laws that the government of Zimbabwe is using to suppress the media. Media law expert and opposition Member of Parliament Tendai Biti said that there is a contradiction in the heading of the bill. “The two, access to information and protection of privacy, are contradictory because the bill is supposed to liberalise and assist the public and the media to monitor the activities of government and at the same time it seeks to enhance government’s monopoly on the management of information,” said Biti.
Government’s thrust towards a legislated ethics body is running parallel to an attempt by media practitioners to set up a voluntary media council. The model code of ethics that media practitioners developed is, however, seen as not conforming to the government’s political expectations. There are fears that the government intends to tighten laws on criminal defamation and at the same time limit scrutiny of public officials under the guise of protecting the citizenry.
Background Information
In an interview with “The Financial Gazette” on 5 April, Minister of Information Moyo said that the Information Bill “â¦is about regulating access of information, regulating the dissemination of information, protecting the privacy of individuals in terms of gathering and disseminating of some information.”
The government of Zimbabwe, through the Department of Information and Publicity, was expected to table the Freedom of Information Bill when parliament reconvened in August. Minister of Justice and also leader of the House Patrick Chinamasa had revealed this in an interview with the “Zimbabwe Independent”. “Hopefully the bill will be taken to parliament during the next session for I would like to believe that the first draft of the bill is complete,” Chinamasa had said.
Deputy Attorney General Patel had also commented on the progress made in drafting the bill. “I cannot say much about the contents of the bill at the moment but it does contain a section dealing with the rights and privileges of journalists and the code of conduct,” said Patel.
In earlier interviews Munyaradzi Hwengwere, deputy permanent secretary in the Department of Information and Publicity, said that among other things the bill will seek to license journalists and set up a code of ethics that all practicing journalists have to abide by. It will also cover aspects of information dissemination by new media, as well as making it easier for information to flow from government to media and from private sector to government.
Commenting on the proposed bill, Biti, opposition (Movement for Democratic Change, MDC) member of parliament for Harare East, said that for the proposed bill to have tangible benefits, it is necessary for the government to revisit the Official Secrets Act and the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act (LOMA), which make it difficult for journalists to practise their trade. “These two acts were passed during the colonial Rhodesian era and the government has found it prudent to keep them in order to thwart any dissenting voice,” said Biti.
On 24 July, President Robert Mugabe alleged that the bill would seek to improve the quality of information that is available to every citizen, “by insisting on integrity and professionalism in the media, which should be able to source information from most sectors on the strength of the bill, but without undermining citizens’ rights to privacy as well as other competing rights, including those related to national security and the protection of children.”
Mugabe also indicated that the notorious LOMA will be repealed and replaced with the Public Security Bill, which will try to protect public order while paying regard to fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, guaranteed by the Zimbabwean Constitution.
The Public Security Bill is set to replace the 1960 colonial LOMA. Ironically it was under LOMA that many nationalist fighters, including Mugabe, were persecuted by the colonial regime. Under LOMA, Zimbabwean journalists, most prominently Mark Chavunduka, Ray Choto and Geoffrey Nyarota, have been arraigned before the courts under various charges.
The Public Security Bill was first tabled in parliament in 1997, approved by parliamentarians but rejected by Mugabe because it was not tough enough on dealing with the media and other sections of society which are seen as wayward.
The Public Security and the Freedom of Information Bill is feared to be the last nail in the coffins of independent media in Zimbabwe, as state harassment and persecution would be legally sanctioned.
For further information, contact Zoe Titus or Kaitira Kandjii, Regional Information Coordinator, MISA, Street Address: 21 Johann Albrecht Street, Mailing Address; Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61 23
