Harare — Zimbabwe's official government gazette in announced on Friday that the controversial media law, the "Freedom of Information and Right to Privacy Bill", has been signed into law by President Mugabe.

The legislation was pushed through parliament - along with a series of other heavy-handed laws - by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo in January. The rushed attempt to pass the legislation caused an international outcry, and Mugabe's Zanu-PF government delayed signing the media bill into law.

It is a measure of President Mugabe's current confidence that he should have signed the bill now, just days after the election result and before being sworn in for his fifth term in office, this weekend.

The new law will require local journalists to meet a set of requirements in order to win mandatory accreditation from a government-appointed panel. Working without accreditation will be punishable with fines or imprisonment. The law also restricts the right to report on the activities of some government structures and bans foreign correspondents from working full-time in Zimbabwe.