US embassy cable - 03HARARE874

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000874 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: REPRESSIVE ELECTORAL AND MEDIA AMENDMENTS TOP 
PARLIAMENT AGENDA 
 
REF: 02 HARARE 414 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  Parliament resumed on May 6, after a two-month 
adjournment in which several parliamentary portfolio 
committees met to discuss proposed legislation.  Top among 
the Bills to be debated when Parliament begins are the Access 
to Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Bill and 
the Electoral Amendment Bill.  If proposed amendments are 
passed, the bills would tighten restrictions on the 
Zimbabwean people and journalists, rights of expression, 
limit the campaigning ability of opposition parties, and make 
the electoral process less inclusive.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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PARLIAMENT OPENS 
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2.  Parliament resumed on May 6, after a two-month 
adjournment.  Top among the bills for debate in this final 
sitting of the Third Session of the Fifth Parliament are 
amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of 
Privacy Amendment Bill and the Electoral Amendment Bill.  The 
bills were announced in the official Zimbabwe journal--the 
first step in the bill making process--in October and March 
2002, respectively, and are at the Parliamentary Legal 
Committee (PLC) stage.  The Access to Information Bill was 
referred to the PLC in November and no report has yet been 
issued.  The Electoral Amendment Bill received an adverse 
report. 
 
NOTE: According to the Parliamentary process, bills are fist 
published (gazetted) in the government gazette at least two 
weeks before they are introduced in Parliament.  After 
gazetting, the bill is referred to the appropriate 
parliamentary portfolio committee, which assesses whether the 
bill is practical and then conducts a hearing with members of 
the public to get their input.  Independent of the portfolio 
committee, the appropriate minister makes the first reading 
of the bill before the House and then the bill is referred to 
the Parliamentary Legal Committee--the committee charged with 
determining the constitutionality of the bill.  At the second 
reading stage, the minister explains the bill, the portfolio 
committee presents its report, and debate on the bill 
follows.  After the second reading, the House goes through 
the bill line by line and adopts any changes to it before it 
proceeds to the third reading when Parliament passes the bill 
and it goes to the Head of State for assent into law.  END 
NOTE. 
 
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AIPPA 
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3. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 
(AIPPA) became law in March 2002.  The Act places Zimbabwe's 
independent journalists and media companies under government 
control and restricts the operation of foreign journalists 
and media in Zimbabwe.  (See Reftel).  Critics of the bill 
contend that it contravenes the constitutional right of 
freedom of expression and is meant to gag the independent 
media.  The Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe 
(IJAZ) is challenging the constitutionality of AIPPA, but no 
judgment has yet been rendered by the Supreme Court.  IJAZ 
challenges the accreditation of journalists as being 
arbitrary and an impediment to journalists practicing their 
craft.  IJAZ also contends that AIPPA puts the journalism 
profession under government control.  Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Chidyausiku, whose allegiance to President Robert 
Mugabe is without question, is believed to be sitting on the 
case.  The Media Institute of Southern Africa, an NGO 
dedicated to the promotion of free, independent, and 
pluralistic media, is now running a &Justice delayed is 
justice denied8 campaign through advertisements in the local 
papers. 
 
4. If passed, the amendments would expand the list of mass 
media products under the government's control to include 
electronically transmitted materials and periodically printed 
publications; tighten the restrictions on foreign media 
operations and limit accreditation of foreign journalists to 
a 30-day period; and remove the provision for journalists and 
media houses to nominate members to the Mass Media Commission 
(MMC). 
 
--Expanding the List of Monitored Products: The bill proposes 
to extend the provisions of AIPPA to a wider segment of 
society by inserting a number of new definitions.  The 
amendment expands the list of definitions that apply to the 
whole Act by moving some that were originally applicable to 
the regulation of mass media services.  As written, the bill 
could cover the publication of and contributors to church 
magazines, bank newsletters, and web pages.  The bill could 
also conceivably regulate private advertisements, e-mails, 
and web pages. 
 
--Restricting Journalistic Access: The amendment limits the 
time in which foreign journalists may be accredited to thirty 
days.  AIPPA states only that accreditation will be for a 
limited time.  The amendment also permits a foreign mass 
media service to set up an office for twelve months. 
 
--Removing the Journalist Nominations to MMC: The amendment 
would get rid of the requirement that the association of 
journalists and media houses nominate at least three of the 
five to nine members on the commission.  Prior to passing 
AIPPA in March 2002, ZANU-PF MP and Chairman of the PLC 
Eddison Zvobgo fought to include the provision that 
journalists nominate at least three members. 
 
5. The committee responsible for reviewing the AIPPA 
amendments, the Portfolio Committee on Transport and 
Communication, completed a report in mid-February in which 
they expressed concern that the general implications of the 
amendments go against the ideas of encouraging media 
businesses to operate.  The Committee pointed out that 
accreditation denies publishers the certainty of knowing the 
journalists they employ will be able to work.  The Minister 
of Information is given the power to determine for how long a 
journalist will be in employment.  The Committee also 
reported that: 
     -Accreditation forces journalists to live in fear of 
being arrested, 
     -The amendment stifles the smooth flow of business with 
its two-year licenses for media houses, 
     -The $Z500,000 registration fee is excessive, 
     -The Media Commission should be representative of and 
accountable to the profession, and 
     -The Commission should be independent of the politics of 
the day, lest it use its power to censor journalists. 
(NOTE: The Committee comprises five MDC parliamentarians 
(MP), five ZANU-PF MPs, and a chief from Binga in 
Matabeleland North, an overwhelmingly MDC stronghold.  An MDC 
MP is chairperson.  END NOTE.) 
 
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ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL 
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6. The Electoral Amendment Bill incorporates many of the 
clauses that were in the General Laws Amendment Act, passed 
in January 2002, but subsequently declared invalid by the 
Supreme Court just before the 2002 Presidential elections. 
The Bill received an adverse report from the PLC, but it 
remains to be seen how the ruling party will handle it. 
(NOTE: In January 2002, the PLC issued an adverse report on 
AIPPA, which resulted in Zvobgo butting heads with Jonathan 
Moyo, the Minister responsible for AIPPA, and Patrick 
Chinamasa, Minister of Justice.  After several weeks of 
Zvobgo refusing to table the report in the House, the PLC and 
Chinamasa conferred for two weeks to resolve some of the 
issues Zvobgo and the PLC had with the Bill.  In the end, the 
PLC tabled the bill and Parliament passed AIPPA. END NOTE.) 
 
7. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal, 
and Parliamentary Affairs held a public hearing on March 13, 
in which all the high level MPs on the committee and 
representatives from Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the 
Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), the National 
Constitutional Assembly, the Registrar-General (RG), and the 
MDC election directorate were present.  The Committee 
comprises five MDC MPs, four ZANU-PF MPs, one ZANU-Ndonga MP, 
and two chiefs.  A ZANU-PF MP chairs the committee. 
According to a March preliminary report on submission on the 
Bill, none of the stakeholders was satisfied with the Bill as 
it is currently written. 
 
8. Some of the proposed Electoral Act changes include: 
 
-Giving the ESC exclusive power to appoint and accredit 
election monitors whom the Registrar-General must verify. 
The amendment stipulates that monitors be drawn from the 
public service cohort. In the past, the ESC drew monitors 
from civic society organizations and did not need to furnish 
the RG with proof of their appointment. 
 
-Vesting the power to invite election observers in two 
ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for foreigners and 
the Minister of Justice for Zimbabweans.  In the past, the 
ESC accredited local observers and the Election Directorate 
accredited foreign observers.  The Ministry of Information 
decided which foreign journalists would be allowed to report 
on elections.  (COMMENT: This particular minister would 
certainly use this clause to go against media houses and 
individual journalists from the foreign media.  END COMMENT.) 
 
-Making the ESC solely responsible for voter education. 
However, political parties may still provide their own voter 
education programs.  The amendment makes it a criminal 
offense, with a penalty of $Z10,000 and/or six months 
imprisonment, to provide voter education without ESC 
registration or to receive foreign funds for said voter 
education.  Previously, there were no restrictions on civic 
organizations conducting voter education and they were to 
receive local and foreign funding.  This clause is meant to 
limit the content of voter education and the process itself. 
 
-Restricting postal voting to members and their spouses away 
on duty with the disciplined forces or government service and 
officials and spouses away on election duty.  In the past, 
persons unable to go to polling stations because of ill 
health or infirmity; residing more than 20 kilometers from 
the nearest polling stations; and those who had good reason 
to believe they would not be in their constituency on polling 
day were allowed to vote by mail.  Zimbabweans studying or 
temporarily working outside the country could apply to vote 
by mail. 
 
-Allowing electoral officers to seal and open ballot boxes 
and count votes even if all the monitors, observers, election 
and polling agents who are entitled to be present are not. 
(COMMENT: In the 2002 presidential elections, polling agents 
and civil society observers were barred from observing 
counting in some areas.  The GOZ now seeks to legitimize this 
practice.  END COMMENT.) 
 
-Making it a criminal offense to place a bill, placard, 
poster, pamphlet, etc. on any house, building, wall, fence, 
lamppost, gate, or elevator without the consent of the owner. 
 The penalty is a fine of up to $Z100,000 and/or imprisonment 
for up to five years. 
 
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OTHER BILLS 
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9. On February 14, the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill 
was gazetted.  The bill exempts persons of Southern African 
Development Community parentage, who may be citizens of these 
countries by descent, from compliance with the dual 
citizenship prohibition and the requirement to renounce the 
foreign citizenship in order to keep Zimbabwean citizenship. 
The bill also stipulates that the SADC parent immigrated into 
or the Zimbabwean parent emigrated out of Zimbabwe to work as 
a general laborer, farm laborer, mineworker, or domestic 
employee in order for the exemption to apply.  COMMENT: The 
Citizenship Amendment Bill appears to be a way for ZANU-PF to 
try and regain the support of Zimbabweans of SADC heritage. 
In its carefully worded text, the Bill deliberately excludes 
white Zimbabweans from claiming citizenship without first 
denouncing a GOZ-perceived allegiance to the country of 
ancestry.  END COMMENT. 
 
10.  On March 14, the Minister of Justice, Chinamasa, 
gazetted the disbursement of money to the MDC and ZANU-PF 
under the Political Parties (Finance) Act.  The allocation 
covers the year June 26, 2002 to June 25, 2003 and is based 
upon the number of votes cast for the party's candidates in 
the preceding general election (June 2000) or in 
by-elections.  ZANU-PF was allocated Z$127.5 million (51 
percent of total votes cast) and MDC allocated Z$122.5 
million (49 percent of total votes cast). 
 
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COMMENT 
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11. If the amendments to AIPPA pass, they would make the 
draconian laws on journalistic freedom even more repressive. 
The independent media continues to be a problem for the GOZ, 
and this would provide the GOZ a way to further limit the 
independent media's influence.  As drafted, the amendment is 
vague and open to broad interpretation.  It also seeks to 
frustrate the independent media and limit its ability to 
appeal freely. 
 
12. If passed, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill would block 
any move towards a freer electoral environment.  If the GOZ 
is allowed to decide whom to invite as observers, there is 
the likelihood that the system will be politically 
manipulated, since the Ministers could only invite foreign 
journalists and observers who are perceived to be sympathetic 
to the government of the day and who will turn a blind eye to 
any election irregularities.  The clause about putting up 
campaign posters makes it almost impossible for 
electioneering materials to be posted prior to an election. 
It is unreasonable and impractical to demand that the 
permission of the municipality or the property owner outside 
whose property the material is to be posted be given for 
every posting. Given the propensity for selective application 
of the law by the GOZ, ZANU-PF candidates will no doubt be 
allowed to put up posters, while MDC and other opposition 
posters will be met with the full might of the law. END 
COMMENT. 
SULLIVAN