President Emmerson Mnangagwa's announcement of a 21-day national lockdown across Zimbabwe to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus was accompanied by a raft of laws, which are draconian, excessive and may be unconstitutional. Statutory Instrument (SI) 83 of 2020, the Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) Order, 2020, sets out restrictions that potentially violate fundamental rights to property and to freedom of expression.
Perhaps the most far-reaching provision in curtailing freedom of expression is the provision in SI 83 to punish the publication or communication of false or fake news during the national lockdown period -- which attracts an excessive punishment of 20 years imprisonment. Section 14 of the regulations says: "For the avoidance of doubt, any person who publishes or communicates false news about any public officer, official or enforcement officer involved with enforcing or implementing the national lockdown in his or her capacity as such, or about any private individual that has the effect of prejudicing the state's enforcement of the national lockdown, shall be liable for prosecution under Section 31 of the Criminal Law Code ("Publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state") and liable to the penalty there provided, that is to say a fine up to or exceeding level 14 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 20 years or both."
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