South African Government (Pretoria)
3 December 2001
press release
Pretoria — The government of Zimbabwe has approved the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which seeks to regulate the operations of the media in Zimbabwe and purportedly give access to information held by public bodies.
According to "The Herald" newspaper, the proposed Bill will protect personal privacy and establish a media information commission to regulate the media industry.
In recommending the Bill, the department of Information and publicity said the media should be accountable to society and has to be judged on how well they were conveying messages without distortions or interfering with the right to freedom of expression given to the people in the constitution.
The proposed Bill has a number of restrictive and punitive clauses on the media. Journalists will be required to be licensed and those who breach a planned code of conduct will have the licence revoked. The media Commission will be responsible for issuing out certificates of registration to media houses and journalists which are renewable annually.
The commission will keep a register of all journalists and to be registered one must possess the prescribed qualifications and be a citizen of and based in Zimbabwe. The commission will have the power to discipline journalists after affording them a "fair hearing". The Bill says that the commission may delete a journalist's name from the register, order his/her suspension for a specified period and impose conditions it deems fit subject to which he/she shall be allowed to practice.
Th commission can order a to pay a fine of not more than Z$50 000 (US$937,5), caution him/her or refer the matter for prosecution. The commission will ensure people have access to information and control of mass media services and receive and act upon comments from the public about the administration and performance of the media.
Journalists shall be deemed to have abused journalistic privilege and committed an offence if, except where they are employed in a news agency, they rewrite a story that has already been published by another publication without the permission of the publication.
The Bill makes it a crime to write for another publication(s) that do not employ you unless you are a freelance journalist. Journalists will be charged for deliberately spreading information that discredits a person or category of people on the basis of sex, race, age, nationality and language, religion, profession, place of residence and work and political conviction. It is also an offence to conceal, falsify or fabricate information, spread rumours, falsehoods or causing alarm and despondency under the guise of authentic reports.
Penalties of those found guilty of any of the offences are a fine of up Z$100 000 (US$1 875,05) or two year's imprisonment. The Bill gives people the right, at no cost, to demand correction of untruthful information that denigrates their honour and dignity.
Publishers will be required to publish the correction in the next issue after receipt of a demand for correction. Corrections may be turned down if the demand or text of correction represents an abuse of the freedom of mass communication as set out in the Bill.
The Bill also gives people the right of reply if a media organization publishes information that is not true or impinges on their rights or lawful interests. The right to reply shall be given the same prominence as the offending story. Foreign media organizations will be set up only with the permission of the Minister and only journalists accredited in terms of the Bill shall be foreign correspondents. This means that all foreign correspondents will need to be Zimbabwean citizens.
The Bill will establish a Media and Information Fund administered by the Media Commission to standardise media services and maintain high standards of quality in the provision of such services. It will assist in training media personnel and promote research and development in information and mass media as well as public awareness on the right of access to information and protection of privacy. Mass media owners will pay the prescribed annual contribution to the fund.
Commenting on the Bill the department of information and publicity in the president's office said that there was presently a collapse of professional and ethical standards in the media.
"This resulted in the invasion of privacy which was evident in the number of defamation cases which members of the public were bringing before the courts," said the Department.
"Of late there have been cases of intrusion of personal privacy by the media through the invasion of personal correspondence, private family affairs and trespassing by way of taking photographs of persons, or their properties for no apparent reasons of public interest of journalistic purposes," said the department.
The Bill will make public bodies accountable by giving the public the right to request correction of misrepresented personal information.
"It is necessary to make public bodies accountable to members of the public because information is an integral part of the democratic process and is necessary for public accountability," said the Department of Information and Publicity.
The Bill lists, as protected information, cabinet deliberations, policy advice by a head of public body to the president, cabinet minister or public body. Information that may be harmful to the law enforcement process and national security is protected as well.
Public bodies are also barred from releasing information that relates to inter governmental relations, financial or economic interests of a public body.
The department of Information and Publicity said that the media has failed to voluntary structure itself as evidenced by the absence of a voluntary media council and the polarisation in the media. The Department said that there is wide polarisation in the media, which calls for a statutory media council. Members of the public who will have been aggrieved by any reports can make complaints to the council or to the Media Commission said the Department. Media owners who are required to register with the commission will have their licences revoked if they break the code of conduct.
The Access to information and protection of privacy Bill comes against a background of another media repressive Bill, in the name of the Public Order and Security Bill. Although the bill is called the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy bill, it is clear that everything in it concerns punishing journalists and restricting their operations.
BACGKROUND
MISA-Zimbabwe made a submission to the department but none of the submitted information was ever used. The Bill marks yet another concerted effort by the Zimbabwe government to silence the independent media once and for all. The polarisation that the Department refers to is largely a creation of the Zimbabwe government.
In a meeting between MISA-Zimbabwe, independent media representatives and the Minister of Information and Publicity in January 2001, the minister clearly stated that government controlled media would not become part of the Voluntary Council.
MISA-Zimbabwe, the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Federation of African Media women and the National Association of Freelance Journalists are in the process of setting up a voluntary media council. It is important to note that the Bill does not mention anything about the obligations of government departments to release information to the media and members of the public.
It is equally not clear on the relationship between the media council and the Media Commission that the bill intends to the set up. The rational of setting up a council as the Department said is to make the media more accountable and make redress more affordable as legal fees are exorbitant. It is however not clear how the hefty fines that is proposed would make any difference with the legal fees that the media have to contend with in Zimbabwe. It is true, as the department has said that the media is facing a lot of defamation cases. What is important to note is that the majority of the defamation cases are from government Ministers, including Moyo himself and political party activists. If this Bill is to pass into law, the independent media in Zimbabwe might as well be facing its last breath.
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