Court clears way for media crackdown in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's information minister Jonathan Moyo

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By Staff Reporter
05/02//04
ZIMBABWE'S Supreme Court threw out a constitutional challenge to Zimbabwe's sweeping media laws on Thursday, making it a criminal offence to work as a journalist without a license.

The Supreme Court ruling effectively put journalists under the direct control of the government with a penalty of up to two years in jail for infringements of laws enforced by the Information Ministry and the state-appointed media commission, said attorney Sternford Moyo, representing the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.

The Access to Information Act requires journalists to be licensed by the state Media and Information Commission.

Those working without a license now face arrest, trial and imprisonment without the option of appealing on constitutional grounds.

The Supreme Court heard the challenge by the Independent Journalists Association on November 21, 2002, that argued the media law violated constitutional rights of free expression.

Moyo said Thursday's ruling upheld the role of the state commission.

'Regulatory control'

The court ruled "the practice of journalism was of fundamental importance in a democratic society but this should not place journalists outside regulatory control," Moyo said.

He said the ruling empowered the state commission to issue or deny accreditation and enforce its codes of conduct in the media.

The ruling rejected the argument that the commission - appointed and paid by the Information Ministry and answerable to Minister Jonathan Moyo, architect of media laws - was itself an unconstitutional body, said the attorney, who is not related to the minister.

He said all other professional groupings in Zimbabwe had their own independent, self-appointed regulatory bodies.

"Journalists now have the distinction of being placed under the control of central government," Moyo said.

No avenue of appeal

There was no further avenue of appeal against the Supreme Court ruling issued on Thursday by Chief Judge Godfrey Chidyausiku, he said.

"This is a huge blow to the struggle for freedom of speech and the right to be informed," said Andrew Moyse, head of the independent Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project, a research group.

"It is criminalising the dissemination of information by anyone not approved by the minister," he said.

It was not clear how the ruling will affect a later hearing in which the state commission is asking the Supreme Court to shut down the Daily News.

The only independent daily newspaper reopened on January 22 after a lengthy legal battle to remove police from its offices and printing factory.

Police shut the paper down after the commission refused to license it.

The paper had become a platform for dissent against the rule of President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe's government has sought to crack down on opposition leaders, trade unionists and independent journalists since his disputed re-election in 2002.
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