MISA-Zimbabwe statement on the recent gazetting of Registration and Accreditation Fees

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, but also of the clear intention on the part of the Media and Information Commission (MIC) to curtail the right of journalists and citizens of Zimbabwe to freedom of expression, access to information and freedom of the media.

Further, MISA Zimbabwe notes that the amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) of March 2008 are proving wholly inadequate in addressing the key concerns in the operational environment of the media in Zimbabwe. This is not necessarily linked to the none constitution of the bodies envisaged in the amended AIPPA such as the Zimbabwe Media Commission or the Zimbabwe Media Council, but even more significantly because the amendments still retain the undemocratic principle of arbitrary state regulation of the media.

It is also MISA Zimbabwe’s view that the Parliament of Zimbabwe must urgently review the legality of the gazetted fees for registration and accreditation of journalists given the ostensible fact that the bodies it brought into legal being (the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the Zimbabwe Media Council) remain unconstituted yet the Amendment Act of AIPPA was passed into law through due process in March 2008.

MISA-Zimbabwe also notes with great concern that the fees, more so those imposed against foreign media organisations and local journalists working for the international media smack of machinations to frustrate and make it difficult for them to operate in Zimbabwe. Foreign media organisations wishing to establish a representative office in Zimbabwe will pay an application fee of US$10 000 and a further US$20 000 and US$2 000 as permission to operate and complementary permit administration fees respectively.

Local journalists working for foreign media organisations will pay US$ 1 000 and US$3 000 as individual application and accreditation fees. This could see several freelance journalists failing to raise the fees in question rendering them unemployed as it will be difficult for them to access public institutions without the requisite accreditation cards.

In view of these developments, MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates the need for a constitutional provision that explicitly guarantees media freedom as well as the repealing of undemocratic media laws such as AIPPA, BSA and the Public Order and Security Act which undermine the right of citizens to the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information. MISA Zimbabwe also calls upon the three main political players in the SADC mediated Global Political Agreement, SADC and the African Union to support the Zimbabwean media fraternity’s preference for professional self regulation of the media as is evidenced through the existence of a media stakeholders’ mandated Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe.


Loughty Dube
Chairperson
MISA-Zimbabwe
84 McChlery Drive
Eastlea
Harare
Zimbabwe
Telefax: +263 4 776165/746838
Email: misa@misazim.co.zw
Website: www.misazim.co.zw

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