Zimbabwe’s highest court threw out a constitutional challenge to the country’s sweeping media laws on Thursday, making it a criminal offense to work as a journalist without a licence.
The Supreme Court ruling effectively puts journalists under the direct control of the government with a penalty of up to two years in jail for infringements of laws enforced by the Information Ministry and the state-appointed media commission, said attorney Sternford Moyo, representing the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.
The Access to Information Act requires journalists to be licensed by the state Media and Information Commission.
Those working without a license now face arrest, trial and imprisonment without the option of appealing on constitutional grounds.
The Supreme Court on November 21 2002 heard the argument by the Independent Journalists Association that the media law violated constitutional rights of free expression.
Moyo said Thursday’s ruling upholds the role of the state commission.
The court ruled ”the practice of journalism was of fundamental importance in a democratic society but this should not place journalists outside regulatory control”, Moyo said.
He said the ruling empowers the state commission to issue or deny accreditation and enforce its codes of conduct in the media.
The ruling rejected the argument that the commission — appointed and paid by the Information Ministry and answerable to Minister Jonathan Moyo, architect of media laws — is itself an unconstitutional body, said the attorney, who is not related to the minister.
He said all other professional groupings in Zimbabwe have their own independent, self-appointed regulatory bodies.
”Journalists now have the distinction of being placed under the control of central government,” Moyo said.
There is no further avenue of appeal against the Supreme Court ruling issued on Thursday by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, he said.
”This is a huge blow to the struggle for freedom of speech and the right to be informed,” said Andrew Moyse, head of the independent Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project, a research group.
”It is criminalising the dissemination of information by anyone not approved by the minister,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling will affect a hearing later on Thursday in which the state commission is asking the Supreme Court to shut down the Daily News, Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper.
The newspaper reopened on January 22 after a lengthy legal battle to remove police from its offices and printing factory.
Police shut the paper down after the commission refused to license it.
The paper is critical of the rule of President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe’s government has sought to crack down on dissent since his disputed re-election in 2002.
Opposition leaders, trade unionists and independent journalists have been targeted in the crackdown and Mugabe has been accused of packing the courts with sympathetic judges. — Sapa-AP