8 January 2009

His Excellency
President Kgalema Montlanthe
President of the Republic of South Africa
And SADC Chairman.
C/o
South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe
His Excellency, Professor Makalima,
South African Embassy
Belgravia
Harare.

Your Excellency, President Kgalema Montlanthe,

RE: THE RESTRICTIVE MEDIA ENVIRONMENT IN ZIMBABWE.

The above matter refers.  Members of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe Chapter (MISA Zimbabwe) respectfully wish to draw to your attention the serious matter of the continued repressive media environment in Zimbabwe.  This is done specifically within the context of your respected role as Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as the organisation’s commitment to the September 15 2008 Global Political Agreement signed between the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDCs).  This letter is also with the humble request that your good offices will find the time and diligence to raise the media fraternity’s concerns with the main political players in the on-going negotiation process.

Your Excellency, it is trite to note that almost four months have passed since the historical signing of the GPA.  With the passage of time, political developments in Zimbabwe have not carried with them the spirit that we are sure the SADC Heads of Sate and Government under your leadership envisioned when facilitating the power sharing agreement. 

Because we are media professionals, we wish to draw your attention to Article 19 of the GPA which states, amongst other key points;

Freedom of Expression and Communication
Recognising the importance of the right to freedom of expression and the role of the media in a multi-party democracy…
19.1 The Parties hereby agree:-
(a) that the government shall ensure the immediate processing by the appropriate authorities of all applications for re-registration and registration in terms of both the Broadcasting Services Act as well as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act;

In the months that have followed the GPA, MISA Zimbabwe has had a keen interest in the manner in which the above cited Article 19 of the GPA would be implemented.  And this interest was premised on the understanding that the references made to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) in this particular section of the agreement would take into account amendments made to the same by the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe in January of 2008.  It is also important for us to bear in mind that these amendments were also undertaken under the mediation of SADC through the facilitation of His Excellency, former President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, before the March 29 2008 harmonised elections. It is in this context that we wish to raise the following issues for your consideration:

1. The lack of locus-standi of the Media and Information Commission to continue to regulate the media.
Of particular concern to us are amendments made to AIPPA whose major features included the removal of the Media and Information Commission (MIC) and brought into legal existence the Zimbabwe Media Commission as well as the Zimbabwe Media Council.  Whilst the membership of MISA Zimbabwe does not agree with the issue of statutory regulation of the media, it would be prudent for us to inform you that as recently as December 19 2008, through Statutory Instrument 185 of 2008, the government of Zimbabwe has gazetted new registration and accreditation fees for media houses and journalists which, it inferred shall be administered by the Media and Information Commission. 

As we have highlighted earlier, the Media and Information Commission no longer exists at law. It has since January 2008, after President Mugabe signed the amendment to AIPPA into law, been replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission as well as the Zimbabwe Media Council to regulate, register and accredit the media in our country.  The media fraternity is therefore surprised that the MIC continues to carry out aforementioned duties without due cognisance of the law.

Further still,  the Minister of Information and Publicity is no longer the authority to determine registration and accreditation fees.  This authority, in terms of the amendment Act to AIPPA  now resides with the Zimbabwe Media Commission.  This is as according to Section 38 (1) of the amended AIPPA. 

It is however not MISA Zimbabwe’s intention to turn your good office into a court of law, but merely to emphasise that the gazetting of said accreditation and registration fees goes against the grain and spirit not only of the September 15 2008 Global Political Agreement but also the SADC mediation process that assisted the main political parties in Zimbabwe to agree to amend AIPPA in our country’s 6th Parliament.

2. The failure by the Political Parties and Parliament of Zimbabwe to Constitute the Zimbabwe Media Commission.
Our second concern therefore is that the Media and Information Commission, is not only not functioning in terms of the law, but that its constitutive framework is patently undemocratic when compared to the Zimbabwe Media commission.  As your good office and the SADC appointed facilitator might already be aware, the ZMC is meant to be constituted through both a process of stakeholder consultation as well as the involvement of the Parliamentary Standing Rules and  Orders Committee which then establishes a list from which the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe appoints 9 members to oversee the regulation of the media. In the case of the Media and Information Commission, no such consultative processes were required, and it is our reasonable assumption that that is why the latter body was replaced in March 2008.

3. The Gazetting of Unaffordable Registration and Accreditation Fees by the Minister of information and Publicity.
Our third major concern is that even if we were to give the Ministry of Information and Publicity or the Media and Information Commission the benefit of the doubt, and assume that it would be able and willing to carry out the spirit and letter of the SADC facilitated Global Political Agreement,  the accreditation fees for both foreign and local media houses as well as journalists that correspond for either remain astronomically high and unaffordable to the extent that they can only be viewed as a hindrance to the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information.

For your Excellency’s perusal, we highlight that the gazetted fees are as follows:
1. 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.

2. Local journalists working for foreign media organisations will pay US$ 1 000 and US$3 000 as individual application and accreditation fees.

3. Temporary accreditation for a foreign journalist has been fixed at a total cost of US$1 500. This contrasts sharply with the complimentary accreditation and administration fees for journalists from within and without the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which is pegged at US$150 and US$200 respectively.

4. While the fees for local media organisations are pegged at Z$10 billion (US$1), Z$30 billion (US$3) and Z$20 billion (US$2) in application, registration and renewal of registration fees respectively

5. Journalists working for local organisations will pay Z$1 million and Z$3 million in application and accreditation fees while local freelance journalists will pay Z$1, 5 million as application fees. Late renewal of accreditation would be penalised at the rate of Z$100 000 per day while that for registration is pegged at Z$500 000.

We therefore humbly ask that the SADC Chairperson seeks a reversal of such astronomical fees, and asks that the Parliament of Zimbabwe at least first constitute the relevant media regulatory bodies (the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the Zimbabwe Media Council) in terms of the January 2008 amendments to AIPPA before any regulation and accreditation fees are announced with the full view of examining the possibility of non-statutory self –regulation of the media.   This should be viewed in tandem with an understanding that the media is an integral component of the right to freedom of expression, and rarely do democratic states seek statutory regulation of the right to speak or practice journalism in whatever form.

4. Arrests, Abductions and Unlawful Detentions of Journalists.
Our fourth major concern that we raise with your highly respected office is that there is still an urgent need for the SADC Chairperson as well as the SADC Facilitator to impress upon the three main Zimbabwean political parties that the media remains an integral part of any democratic political transition processes.  In this vein, it is imperative that all unlawful arrests of journalists, media workers and ordinary citizens in the exercise of their right to freedom of expression and access to information cease to take place.  Of particular concern is the initial abductions, continued arrest and detention of Ms. Jestina Mukoko, a veteran journalist and Mr. Andrisson Manyere, a freelance journalist, by the Zimbabwe Republic Police. 

It is also important to note that since the signing of the September 15 2008 Global Political Agreement, MISA Zimbabwe has recorded a number of threats made against journalists through the state controlled media and its columnists especially in the wake of the outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe. In our view, these threats, are not to be taken lightly and we are convinced that the continued extra legal use of the Media and Information Commission to regulate the media is tantamount to an attempt to make deregistration of private or foreign media houses a political reality. 
These unlawful abductions of media workers, cited above,  have left the Zimbabwe media fraternity in a state of shock and patent fear, as colleagues are worried that the state security services are acting with impunity against journalists, either in the form of abductions and/or drawn out unlawful detention without charge. 

5. Conclusion.
Your Excellency, MISA Zimbabwe, being part of a regional body of media professionals and media houses, wishes to express its gratitude for the tremendous amount of work that SADC and your Chairpersonship of the same has sought to bring to bear on finding solutions to the Zimbabwean political and economic crisis.

 As with all negotiated and drawn out political processes, a key factor that all concerned stakeholders must consider is that of ensuring that freedom of expression, access to information and freedom of the media are upheld to the highest possible democratic standards.  This is in order to allow for there to be public debate and public access to information on key issues that affect nationally significant processes such as the SADC facilitated mediation process and the Global Political Agreement. 

It is abundantly evident that the media is one of the key mechanisms that the people of Zimbabwe employ to find out what is going on in their country, all in terms of the cholera epidemic, the agricultural season, the on-going negotiations, as well as the food, education and economic crises.  Where the media is gagged, or where the state still seeks to stop the right of the people of Zimbabwe to access information, it is to do a serious disservice to our country, our region, the African people and the world as a whole. 

MISA Zimbabwe therefore humbly requests that your good office and the goodwill of not only the SADC Heads of State and Government but of the Southern African people that your good office represents, remain true and committed to assisting the media fraternity as well as the people of Zimbabwe to at least be able to speak, access information and the media as freely as is democratically possible.

Yours sincerely and on behalf of MISA Zimbabwe members,

Loughty Dube.
National Chairperson
MISA-Zimbabwe.
Cc
The Chairman, SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, His Majesty, King Mswati III
The SADC Facilitator, His Excellency Mr. Thabo Mbeki.
The President and First Secretary of Zanu Pf, His Excellency President RG Mugabe
The President , The Movement for Democratic Change, Prime Minister-Designate, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai.
The President, The Movement for Democratic Change, Deputy Prime Minister-Designate, Prof. Arthur Mutambara.
The Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr. Tomaz Salamao
The Speaker of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe, Honourable Lovemore Moyo.
The President of the House of Senate of Zimbabwe, Honourable Edna Madzongwe
The Chief Negotatiator, Zanu Pf, Honourable Patrick Chinamasa
The Chief Negotiator, MDC, Honourable Tendai Biti.
The Chief Negotiator, MDC, Honourable Welshman Ncube