INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Media Reaction Supreme Court Ruling On Anz

Published: Mon 15 Sep 2003 09:26 AM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
150926Z Sep 03
UNCLAS HARARE 001852
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION SUPREME COURT RULING ON ANZ
CHALLENGE OF AIPPA "TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE," PAPER; HARARE
1. Under headline "Travesty of Justice" the independent
weekly "The Standard" dedicated its September 14
editorial to dismissing Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku's ruling on the Associated Newspapers of
Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of Zimbabwe's only
independent daily "The Daily News" and its sister
weekly "The Daily News on Sunday," challenge of
certain sections of the controversial Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) in
the Supreme Court as "a travesty of justice."
Excerpts:
2. "We had long decided to comment on the ruling by Chief
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku to point out that his statement
was likely to be interpreted by government security agents
as an invitation to once and for all destroy the private
press and "The Daily News," which the governing party has
considered an irritant for years. . .Thursday's ruling by
Chief Justice Chidyausiku that by not registering with the
government-appointed Media and Information Commission, the
Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). . .was operating
illegally, is a dangerous ruling. It is dangerous because
it has not taken long for enemies of free expression to
pounce on `The Daily News' - by crudely shutting down its
operations and forcing its printers to stop working. In
fact, the Chidyausiku ruling has larger implications to the
media in Zimbabwe: in one stroke of the pen, it gives the
Media and Information Commission the legality it so badly
strove for, to move and frustrate Zimbabwe's vibrant but
small private media. . .However one reads Mr. Chidyausiku's
ruling, it is a travesty of justice.
SULLIVAN
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