(MISA/IFEX) – “The Daily News” and the “Zimbabwe Independent” are to be brought before parliament for allegedly trying to mislead the public over proceedings in the House on the adverse report on broadcasting regulations presented by the Parliamentary Legal Committee, “The Herald” reported on Saturday 17 March 2001. In a statement issued on Friday 16 […]
(MISA/IFEX) – “The Daily News” and the “Zimbabwe Independent” are to be brought before parliament for allegedly trying to mislead the public over proceedings in the House on the adverse report on broadcasting regulations presented by the Parliamentary Legal Committee, “The Herald” reported on Saturday 17 March 2001.
In a statement issued on Friday 16 March, the Department of Information and Publicity in the President’s office said that claims by “The Daily News” that Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa had hit out at Legal Committee Chairperson Eddison Zvobgo and Kumbirai Kangai, and that the attorney general had agreed with the committee that the regulations infringed on the constitution, were false. “The Herald” also reports that assertions by the “Zimbabwe Independent” that the report presented to parliament bore Kangai’s signature were also dismissed as untrue.
“The falsehoods by the newspapers are serious and constitute clear contempt of parliament,” said the Information and Publicity Department.
Meanwhile, it was reported in “The Standard”‘s Sunday 18 March edition that Welshman Ncube, member of parliament and secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has hit out at Justice Minister Chinamasa for deliberately misleading parliament on how the Parliamentary Legal Committee arrived at the decision that sections of the broadcasting regulations were illegal.
Ncube said Chinamasa “clearly lied” when he told parliament on Wednesday 14 March that the committee had not followed proper procedures in preparing its report. Ncube said the committee had sat more than five times, contrary to claims by Chinamasa that the committee had not sat, since no minutes were produced. Ncube also said that the committee had sought and was granted an extension by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Edna Madzongwe.
“I want to set the record straight because I was not given the chance in the House by the Speaker to respond to the allegations,” said Ncube.
“We were given the extension to the working period by Mrs. Madzongwe for us to continue deliberating because we had to seek legal opinion from a senior legal expert. We also needed time to consider a draft opinion that was prepared by honorable Eddison Zvobgo,” said Ncube.
Ncube said that he does not know why Kangai did not sign the document since the three had agreed on its findings. Ncube also said that they had even invited Chinamasa to some of their meetings to debate on the clauses in the regulations. Ncube dismissed allegations that he prepared the report at his MDC offices.
“This is cheap politicking by Chinamasa. I was asked by the committee to summarise the draft document, considering the senior legal council’s opinion together with that which was prepared by Zvobgo,” said Ncube.
However, Chinamasa dismissed Ncube’s statement, insisting that he must produce the minutes of their meetings as proof that they were held.
“There is no politicking here because the standing orders and rules are very clear on the procedures to be followed in the House. Ncube must stop making unnecessary accusations because there are no records to support his statements,” said Chinamasa.
On the question of the minutes, Ncube said that it was not for him to know whether the minutes of the meetings were recorded since this is supposed to be done by a clerk to the committee.
Background Information
On 22 September, a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court nullified the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s 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.
A parliamentary legal committee was selected to review and make recommendations to parliament. However, when presenting the parliamentary legal committee’s report to parliament on 8 March, Masvingo South MP Zvobgo said some of the regulations were not consistent with the protection to the right to freedom of expression as provided for in Section 20 (1) of the Constitution.
On 15 March, “The Herald” and “The Daily News” reported that Minister of Justice, Parliament and Legal Affairs Chinamasa and Attorney General Andrew Chigovera had dismissed the Parliamentary Legal Committee report on broadcasting regulations as null and void.
Chinamasa said that the adverse report prepared by the committee, declaring some sections of the broadcasting regulations unconstitutional, was null and void because the committee did not follow the proper procedures in preparing it.
