Media hangman Charamba crafts new regulation laws

By Alex Bell
24 June 2009

Concern is being raised over the future of media freedom in the country, as two new media laws, which are set to replace the controversial Access to Information and Privacy Act (AIPPA), are said to be the brainchild of media ‘hangman’ George Charamba.

The draconian AIPPA, which has been used by Robert Mugabe’s regime to strangle media freedom, will fall away and instead make room for the proposed Freedom of Information Act and the Media Practitioners Act. It’s understood that the Media Practitioners Act will outline procedures for the regulation of journalists, while the Freedom of Information Act will regulate access to information and privacy issues.

The proposed laws are currently being crafted by the unity government, and will be placed before Parliament for adoption. The acts were apparently agreed upon at the recent media conference held in Kariba last month, which was a coming together of the country’s most notorious media ‘hangmen’. The event was boycotted by the majority of independent media groups, who therefore have had no say in the drafting of the new laws. Of most concern however is the apparent involvement of ZANU PF’s George Charamba, who is said to be the brains behind the formation of the new acts.

The chairperson of a parliamentary portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technologies, Gift Chimanikire, has admitted that the introduction of the laws is a ‘compromise’, saying in recent interviews that “what we are working on is not the ideal situation.”

Loughty Dube, the chairman of the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that “there is no more time for compromises.” He said the unity government has a small window of opportunity to implement real reforms, and that missing that opportunity could be ‘disastrous’. Dube expressed concern over Charamba’s involvement in the formation of the new laws, and added that media role players such as MISA crucially need to be involved in any formation of media regulatory law.

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