A small group of independent journalists in Zimbabwe said on Wednesday they have filed a lawsuit challenging a harsh new media law in the Supreme Court.
The Independent Journalists Association said the regulations of the media law breached constitutional rights of free expression and association, said the group’s representative, Abel Mutsakani.
No date has been set for the court hearing but it parallels similar action by foreign correspondents who are also challenging the constitutionality of the law.
Critics say the media law is part of a strategy by longtime President Robert Mugabe to crack down on any form of dissent in the country.
Also on Wednesday, the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe told the independent Daily News that ruling party militants had lifted a two-month ban on food distribution in the northwestern district of Binga.
Catholic church representative Father Tom McQuillen said three churches were now being permitted to distribute food in the area, considered an opposition stronghold.
Aid groups and opposition officials have accused the government of refusing to give food aid to opposition supporters and steering it to ruling party strongholds.
The church had reported that 27 children died of malnutrition-related illnesses after the forced closure of a warehouse run by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, funded by Britain’s Department of Overseas Development.
For more than two years, Zimbabwe has been suffering from political unrest largely blamed on the ruling party. The nation’s economy has spiralled into chaos and is on the brink of a disastrous hunger crisis that threatens nearly half the country’s 12,5-million people. – Sapa-AP