David Coltart Blog – Ministry of Information appears determined to violate Zimbabwe’s Constitution
By David Coltart
25 October 2013
The Herald this morning has a headline “Government to quash pirate radio stations”. It quotes the Deputy Minister of Information Supa Mandiwanzira who in responding to a question from Mashonaland Central Senator Alice Chimbudzi (Zanu-PF) on what Government was doing to deal with private radio stations apparently said:
“The Ministry considers these pirate radio stations as a nuisance that we must get rid of. In the majority of cases the Zimbabweans who listen to these pirate radio stations do so out of desperation because they are unable to get a signal of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation in the area they stay. So they have no choice and end up, by default, listening to these pirate radio stations.â€
If the Deputy Minister has been correctly quoted it means that there is now a policy to get “rid of” pirate radio stations because they are a “nuisance”. In the same report the Deputy Minister re-affirmed the requirement by broadcasting stations to play 75 percent local content.
If this is all correctly reported the result is that the Ministry is now pursuing policies which are flagrantly in breach of several different clauses of our new Constitution.
Firstly, Section 61(3) makes it clear that Broadcasting and other electronic media of communication have “freedom of establishment” which is only subject to technical requirements “necessary to regulate airwaves”. The same clause makes it clear that the State licencing procedures must be independent of government or political control. In other words the Ministry has no power in terms of the Constitution to bar a particular radio or TV station simply because it is “a nuisance”. So long as the station does not incite violence, use hate speech, maliciously injure a person’s reputation or maliciously breach a person’s right to privacy they have virtually absolute rights to broadcast. That includes broadcasting views which do not necessarily agree with the strict Zanu PF party line.
Accordingly Deputy Minister Mandiwanzira is himself in breach of the Constitution by stating that these stations must be “got rid of”. The way to deal with these so called pirate stations is to allow them to broadcast from within Zimbabwe. They will then be subject to our own laws and if they broadcast hate speech or other material outlawed by our Constitution then they can be made subject to our own laws and legal system. I frequently listen to SW Radio Africa and Studio 7 and I have never heard material broadcast which is unlawful. They spend a lot of time in fact exposing corruption and other breaches of law which the ZBC simply ignores.
Secondly, Deputy Minister Mandiwanzira is wrong in thinking that by simply extending the signal of the ZBC to all areas that will stop Zimbabweans from listening to SW Radio Africa and Studio 7. People listen to these stations because ironically they provide the independence and alternative view that the ZBC should provide but does not. This in turn is the second serious and ongoing breach of the Constitution which the Ministry of Information fosters. Section 61(4) states that “all Sate owned media must…be free to determine independently the editorial content of their broadcast …be impartial…and afford a fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions”. This clearly and blatantly the ZBC does not do and has never done since the Rhodesian Front first got hold of the RBC in 1962. The ZBC is simply a mouthpiece for Zanu PF as the RBC was for the Rhodesian Front before it.
Thirdly, whilst I fully understand and support the need to promote local artists, that can be done in other ways which do not violate the Constitution as the 75% local contents rule does. Sections 61(2), 62(2) and 63 when read together give every Zimbabwean citizen the rights and freedoms to seek, receive and communicate information of their choice, which includes artistic freedom and the right (in Section 63) to “participate in the cultural life of their choice”. This means that if someone wants to establish a radio station which solely plays classical, religious or Motown music that is their choice, which cannot be infringed upon. Likewise because of the provisions of Section 61(4) (ie the right of independent editorial content) the Ministry cannot dictate to the ZBC what its editorial content, including the music it plays, should be. Of course the Ministry can encourage the ZBC to play local music and can do a range of other things to boost local artists but any Dictat is unconstitutional.
My good friend Trevor Ncube recently spoke about the encouraging meeting he had with Minister Jonathan Moyo and Deputy Minister Supa Mandiwanzira regarding the print media. I was pleased to read that that meeting went well but at the time he commented I wondered whether the same degree of tolerance would be displayed towards the electronic media by these two gentlemen. I have always thought that it serves Zanu PF to allow newspapers to operate. They provide a wonderful facade of liberty without really challenging the core of Zanu PF’s support base. The reality is that most newspapers do not get to the majority of the rural population – they are too expensive and distribution is difficult. Electronic media is the key because it reaches every household for free in the most remote areas. The last 5 years have shown that Zanu PF have not been prepared to release their tight control over the electronic media. The licences given to Star FM and ZiFM are part of the facade – Star FM is owned and controlled by the Herald, which slavishly follows the Zanu PF party line and ZiFm, well, is owned by the Deputy Minister Supa Mandiwanzira himself so there is no doubt where its allegiances lie. So there is not a single independent broadcasting house in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe in this regard stands out as the glaring exception in the region. Every single one of our neighbours allows genuinely independent radios to operate and South Africa allows genuinely independent TV stations to operate. Zanu PF describes itself as the “revolutionary party” and keeps going on about its “resounding victory”. if it is so confident of its support then one would expect it to be confident about opening up our airwaves to all Zimbabweans. This statement made in Parliament reveals that they are not that confident and appear to be determined to violate fundamental rights contained in our Constitution. For as long as they purse this Zimbabweans will not be free and the long cold night of Rhodesian Front style authoritarianism will continue.
http://www.herald.co.zw/govt-to-quash-pirate-radio-stations/