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Alert

"The Daily News" newspaper to appeal denial of licence

(MISA/IFEX) - The banned independent newspaper "The Daily News" will appeal to the Administrative Court to overturn the Media and Information Commission's (MIC) decision not to grant it a licence.

Speaking to MISA-Zimbabwe, Gugulethu Moyo, director of corporate affairs of the Associated Newspapers Group (ANZ), which publishes "The Daily News", said the group would file an appeal with the Administrative Court.

"The problem is the appeal still has to go back to the Media and Information Commission as the Administrative Court can only hear the matter and make recommendations to the MIC," said Moyo.

Moyo said the ANZ will also argue that the MIC is improperly constituted, as no media houses or journalists' associations were consulted when it was appointed. Media houses and journalist's associations are supposed to nominate three people to sit on the MIC, according to provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

On 19 September 2003, the MIC unanimously decided not to grant a licence to the ANZ, arguing that the group had been publishing illegally. In its ruling, the MIC said the ANZ filed its application for registration eight and a half months after expiry of the 31 December 2002 registration deadline. The commission further said that the ANZ openly announced that it would not register, as it considered the AIPPA to be unconstitutional.

The commission noted that notwithstanding the Supreme Court judgement that said the ANZ was operating illegally, the group went ahead and published the following day. The commission also found that the ANZ employed journalists who are unaccredited and some who are "unaccreditable."

Section 79 (6) of the AIPPA says that it is a unlawful to employ unaccredited journalists. In its ruling, the commission noted that the ANZ employed Chengetai Zvauya, a journalist the commission says is unaccreditable since he has a previous conviction.

In 2000, Zvauya, his former editor, Andrew Moyse, and the former publisher of "The Standard", Clive Wilson, were arrested and charged under the criminal defamation law with having published a story the state alleged was not true. The three journalists were fined by the courts (see IFEX alerts of 21, 16 and 6 June, 24 and 23 February 2000). The commission has refused to accredit Zvauya on the basis of this conviction.

There are, however, no provisions in the AIPPA that empower the commission to refuse accreditation to journalists on the basis of previous convictions. In 2002, the commission refused to accredit all journalists from "The Daily News" on the basis that their employer, the newspaper, was operating illegally. The AIPPA does not say whether the commission is empowered to refuse accreditation to journalists on the basis that their employer is unaccredited.

In its denial of a licence to the ANZ, the commission also said that the group failed to deliver a free copy of their publication to the commission, as required under Section 39 (1). The commission says that it needed the free copy in order to monitor the press and raise user awareness of the mass media. On this basis, the commission unanimously voted to deny the ANZ a licence.

Meanwhile, on 19 September, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stab Mudenge said "The Daily News" was "seeking martyrdom" by defying the law. Mudenge noted that at least 51 publications had registered with the MIC.

"The courts told them that they are operating illegally, but they defied the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe. So what should the police do? Should they sit and watch? Nobody should be allowed to operate outside the law," said Mudenge.

The AIPPA has, however, been criticised as an undemocratic law, especially since it forces media houses and journalists to register with the MIC. The law prescribes stiff penalties, such as monetary fines and prison sentences, for those who breach its provisions.