PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said he was surprised that the state intends to appeal against a judgement in favour of freelance journalists who successfully applied to stop the defunct Media and Information Commission from interfering in their work.
Freelance journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire sought the intervention of the court after the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity insisted that those without MIC accreditation would not be allowed to cover the Comesa summit.
In a move hailed as a victory for democracy, High Court Judge Justice Bharat Patel upheld their appeal on Friday evening.
The judge said the MIC ceased to exist legally last year when it was replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission following the enactment of Constitutional Amendment No.19. He said the order would stand notwithstanding any appeal by the respondents.
Patel ordered Minister Webster Shamu and George Charamba, the Secretary for the Ministry to retract their statements to the effect that journalists must accredit with MIC for the purposes of covering the ongoing Common Market for East and Southern African summit in Victoria Falls.
Patel said they should do this by putting notices in the print media and also through radio and television.The judge also interdicted Shamu, Charamba, "their agents and any person purporting to act on their behalf or with their authority from making statements, publishing notices, or attempting in any other way to compel the
four and or any other journalists to accredit for the Comesa summit, or assuming any functions of the ZMC including the levying of accreditation fees".
While journalists hoped this could bring a closure to the matter, MIC lawyers on Friday announced that the state would appeal against the decision.
Reacting to the announcement yesterday, the Prime Minister said he was "surprised" that the state intended to appeal.He said the AG's office had indicated in its legal opinion that "the MIC was defunct".
Tsvangirai's office had sought legal opinion from the AG's office after Charamba dismissed the Prime Minister's assurances that journalists and media houses were free to operate without licences until the Zimbabwe Media Commission was set up in terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The correspondence between the AG's office and Tsvangirai was part of the evidence produced at the High Court."It is surprising that it is the same (AG who now wants to appeal) who advised that what was happening was wrong," Tsvangirai told journalists at the Harare International Airport shortly before leaving for Europe and the United States.
Tsvangirai left Harare on an eight-nation tour that takes him to France, Sweden, Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the US.He told journalists: "There is no legal basis for the media to be licensed to cover and report issues about the country."
Meanwhile, lawyers and journalists hailed Patel's judgement as a victory for those campaigning for a return to the rule of law and freedom of expression.
"It is a victory for those who wish to see a swift return to the rule of law, adherence to the laws of the country as well as cessation of the abuse of power by certain members of the executive," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said in a statement.
John Gambanga, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Voluntary Media Council said the government must now put in place the ZMC to replace MIC.
"This is a major victory for democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press," he said. "I am particularly happy with the fact that the MIC's illegitimacy has been legally confirmed."
The ruling also came as a relief for journalists who have seen the MIC throwing tens of their colleagues into the streets after closing down several newspapers.Tafataona Mahoso, the controversial MIC chairman had opposed the application by the four freelance journalists.
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