(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 October 2000, the speaker of the Zimbabwean parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, ruled that the “Financial Gazette” newspaper was in contempt of parliament for publishing a story last week which said the parliamentary committee had met and unanimously resolved that the new broadcasting regulations were illegal, reports “The Herald” newspaper. “It is the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 October 2000, the speaker of the Zimbabwean parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, ruled that the “Financial Gazette” newspaper was in contempt of parliament for publishing a story last week which said the parliamentary committee had met and unanimously resolved that the new broadcasting regulations were illegal, reports “The Herald” newspaper.
“It is the view of the chair that the article published by the ‘Financial Gazette’ is false. Its publication is a contravention of Section 21 of the Privileges Act (Chapter 2; 08) in that it was a wilful publication of a perverted report of proceedings of a committee of Parliament. In the result the chair rules that the publication constitutes a prima facie case of contempt of Parliament,” Mnangagwa said in his ruling.
Mnangagwa told parliament that he had studied the matter and established that the Parliamentary Legal Committee had not met to discuss Statutory Instrument 255 of 2000, which contained the new broadcasting regulations.” The chair has accordingly studied the matter and established that the Parliamentary Legal Committee held a meeting on Thursday 12 October. The minutes of that meeting do not show that the committee had considered Statutory Instrument 255A of 2000 as alleged in the article in question. The committee also held a meeting on Friday 13 October and the minutes of the meeting show that the committee did not discuss the statutory instrument as alleged in the article,” said Mnangagwa.
The ruling means that the reporter who penned the story could be dragged before a parliamentary committee for a hearing. The Privileges Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act (Chapter 10) gives parliament authority to punish the media for contempt of parliament. Wilfully failing or refusing to obey an order of parliament, refusing to be examined before or answer any lawful and relevant question put by a committee of parliament and publishing the proceedings of a committee or evidence given before such a committee as reported to parliament are all violations of the act.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwe has also been asked to rule on whether “The Daily News” was in contempt of parliament after it published details of a motion to impeach the president that was tabled by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The ruling is still being awaited.
