Edgar Gweshe
10 January 2009
MEDIA organisations last week roundly condemned the recently gazetted registration and accreditation fees for media organisations and journalists saying they were part of government efforts to stifle the dissemination of information.
The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) on Tuesday announced new accreditation fees that will see local journalists working for foreign media forking out US$1 000 in application fees and another US$3 000 for accreditation.
Temporary accreditation for foreign journalists has been pegged at US$500.
Journalists from within Sadc will pay a complimentary accreditation administration fee of US$150 while US$200 would be required for those from outside the region.
Foreign mass media services and news agencies wishing to operate a representative office in Zimbabwe will be expected to pay an application fee of US$10 000 and a further US$20 000 if they get permission to operate.
They would also be required to pay a complimentary permit administration fee of US$2 000.
The MIC says the new fees were set up in terms of Section 91 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa).
But the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef) and the Zimbabwean chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said the new fees were unjustified and illegal.
"Our position is that the fees are a malicious attempt to make sure there is no news that comes from Zimbabwe," said Forster Dongozi, the ZUJ secretary-general.
Dongozi said the new fees were illegal as journalists were being forced to pay "a non-existent Media and Information Commission (MIC) that has since been dissolved and replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC)".
Analysts say the MIC was effectively dissolved following the amendment of Aippa when President Robert Mugabe signed Constitutional Amendment 18 into law last year.
Misa said the punitive fees were "indicative of the arbitrary and undemocratic" media laws in Zimbabwe.
"The recent gazetting by the government of steep media application and registration fees is not only indicative of the arbitrary and undemocratic nature of statutory regulation of the media," said Misa in a statement, "but also of the clear intention on the part of the now defunct MIC to curtail the right of journalists and citizens of Zimbabwe to freedom of expression, access to information and freedom of the media."
Misa also called for the repealing of severe media legislation such as Aippa, the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), and the Public Order and Security Act saying the amendments made to Aippa were not enough to guarantee press freedom.
Media workers suspect the steep fees are meant to provide funding for the MIC to pay its officers since there is no government budget.
Meanwhile, journalists from the private sector intend to launch a legal appeal against the newly gazetted fees.
This was revealed at a function held in the capital following the announcement by MIC of the new accreditation fees.
At the same function MDC director for Information and Publicity, Luke Tamborinyoka, said the new fees were a clear violation of Zimbabweans' right to access and impart information.
He said this demonstrated Zanu PF's insincerity in the ongoing inter-party talks with the MDC formations.
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