Just before the elections President Mugabe pushed through a controversial bill restricting the media. Zimbabwe journalist Basildon Peta considers what it means for him
If I were to obey the draconian law resticting coverage of the election, this would have been my last contribution to the
However, I am determined not to do this despite the hefty fines and two-year jail terms that linger over the head of anyone
offending the terms of the law.
This is because the access to information and protection of
privacy bill is so absurd and abominable
that many believe it would not pass the test of
constitutional legitimacy even under a legal system
run by the ousted Taleban regime of Afghanistan.
Even though President Robert Mugabe has stuffed the
judiciary with loyalists and has frustrated many
independent judges into resigning, I do not see any
self-respecting judicial officer jailing any
journalist defying the patently illegal and
My defiance of the bill will be based on many of its prescriptions which I cannot simply afford to countenance.
My career over the years has thrived on my ability to get information on the proceedings of President Mugabe's confidential cabinet meetings and on exposing his ruling party's distinguished career of misrule.
Protecting the corrupt?
The bill contains very broad provisions purporting to protect the privacy of individuals. It makes it possible for any corrupt people in government to hide under the banner of privacy.
It sets imprisonment and jail terms for journalists publishing stories on protected information like cabinet meetings and information held by different government departments.
A journalist can only publish information voluntarily released by a department head. The bill prescribes heavy fines of about $3,000 and two-year jail terms for journalists publishing stories likely to cause "alarm, fear and despondency".
However, the scope of these stories is not defined in
the bill. Anything that offends President Mugabe might be interpreted as having the effect of
causing "alarm and despondency" as we have seen in the
The bill will also ban journalists from publishing
stories that discriminate on the basis of political affiliation, sex, religion, beliefs, education, race etc... The scope of these stories is also not defined.
It threatens to jail journalists who practise
"unethical journalism" and it bans foreign
correspondents from working in Zimbabwe. Most of them
are currently being refused entry into the country
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo will have the
power to veto accreditation for any journalist he does
not like. The net effect of the new law is to reduce
any journalist to an official biographer, something
I am not prepared to be.
Coupled with the new media bill is the equally
draconian Public Order and Security Bill that
will impose life and death sentences on Zimbabweans
accused of assisting in terrorism, espionage,
banditry, sabotage and treason against President
Mugabe's government. These offences are not clearly
defined in the bill.
But just as an example, five journalists, including
myself, were earlier this year accused by Mr Mugabe's
government of aiding terrorism through our reports in
the British press.
Mr Mugabe has repeatedly accused Prime Minister Tony
Blair of hatching "terrorist" plots to oust
the Zimbabwe Government. He has accused the British
press of conspiring in these plots.
So writing a story for British media when you are
Zimbabwean will inevitably be construed as aiding
The new media bill effectively reduces all
journalists in Zimbabwe to
entertainment reporters who can only cover musical
shows, discos, films and other limited events
that will guarantee producing copy which may not cause
"fear, alarm and despondency".
Seasoned political writers might have to merely
restrict themselves to covering ruling party rallies
in glowing terms to avoid being penalised under the
sweeping provisions of the bill.
I am only glad that the obnoxious terms of this new
law have only united all journalists working in the
private media who are all unanimously agreed on the
need for a boycott.
This will leave the Zimbabwe
Government with the stark option of arresting over
100 journalists who will boycott the bill all at once.
After reading the bill several times over, the
only good thing about it is that it might in fact
expedite the political demise of President Mugabe if he
implements its foolish provisions.
Basildon Peta is secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, and works for the Financial Gazette in Harare and London's The Independent. Since writing this article he was briefly arrested, and then fled the country following a smear campaign against him.