US embassy cable - 02HARARE1948

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001948 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S AF/RA 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, ZI 
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO TIGHTEN CONTROL OF MEDIA 
 
 
  1.   The government-owned weekly "Sunday Mail" 
      reported on August 25 that the government has 
      introduced amendments to the controversial Access to 
      Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that 
      will further tighten government control of the media. 
      According to the news article, the Cabinet Committee 
      on Legislation has already approved amendments to 
      AIPPA.  The parliament will have to approve the 
      amendments, but ruling party control of parliament 
      makes that approval a formality. 
 
  2.   Salient points of the amendments include: 
 
  -    Restricts public access to information by 
     allowing the ".head of a public body to refuse to 
     disclose to an applicant information, including 
     personal information about the applicant, if the 
     disclosure will result in a threat to another person's 
     safety or mental or physical health." 
  -    Exempts the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and 
     ZIANA (the government-owned wire service) from the 
     AIPPA-mandated media registration process. 
  -    Limits the accreditation of foreign journalists 
     in Zimbabwe to 30 days, rather than 12 months as 
     permitted under the original law. 
  -    Defines and expands the crime of "publishing 
     falsehoods," giving courts clearer benchmarks for 
     convictions or dismissals. 
 
  3.   Excerpts of the article follow: 
 
     ". . .In his submissions to the committee, 
     Chinamasa said the purpose of the Bill was to 
     amend the AIPPA with a view to improving it and 
     correcting certain anomalies and errors that have 
     come to the attention of the ministry since the 
     Act was promulgated.  The Bill seeks to repeal 
     Section 22 of the Act and substitutes it with a 
     new section that says: The head of a public body 
     may refuse to disclose to an applicant 
     information, including personal information about 
     the applicant, if the disclosure will result in a 
     threat to another person's safety or mental or 
     physical health.  Section 35 of the Bill that 
     deals with the penalty for deliberately 
     falsifying personal information reads: `Any 
     person who, when required under any enactment to 
     supply to a public body any personal information 
     verbally or in writing about himself or herself 
     or a third party, supplies any information which 
     he or she knows to be false or does not have 
     reasonable grounds for believing to be true, 
     shall be guilty of an offense and liable to a 
     fine not exceeding level five or imprisonment for 
     a period not exceeding six months or to both such 
     fine and such imprisonment.' 
 
      ". . .The Bill seeks to exempt from registration 
      `mass medium founded under an Act of Parliament, 
      a mass media service consisting of the 
      activities of a person holding a license issued 
      in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act to the 
      extent that such activities are permitted by 
      such license or a representative office of a 
      foreign mass media service permitted to operate 
      in Zimbabwe in terms of Section 90.'  Section 80 
      of the Bill reads: `A journalist who abuses his 
      journalistic privilege by; (a) falsifying or 
      maliciously or fraudulently fabricating 
      information or; (b) publishing or reproducing 
      any statement (i) knowing it to be false or 
      without having reasonable grounds for believing 
      it to be true; and (ii) recklessly, or with 
      malicious or fraudulent intent, representing it 
      as a true statement or; (c) committing or 
      facilitating the commission of a criminal 
      offense; `Shall be guilty of an offense and 
      liable to a fine not exceeding level seven or to 
      imprisonment for a period not exceeding two 
      years.' 
 
      "In its considerations, the committee said it 
      felt that 12 months was `too long a period for 
      the accreditation of a foreign journalists and 
      advised that the period be reduced to 30 days." 
 
  4.   Comment:  The original AIPPA was enacted early 
      this year after significant parliamentary debate.  The 
      Act established a Statutory Media Commission, which 
      requires that all journalists apply for a one-year 
      renewable license.  Media organizations (now excepting 
      some state-owned media) must pay substantial 
      registration fees and meet a stringent set of 
      requirements before issuance of a license.  However, 
      the license can be revoked at any time if for those 
      who breach a planned code of conduct.  Since its 
      enactment, more than a dozen local journalists, 
      including an American citizen, have been arrested and 
      tried for violating AIPPA.   Two separate legal 
      challenges to AIPPA have been filed by journalists and 
      will be heard later this year.  End comment. 
  SULLIVAN