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Forwarded on behalf of David Lush

>IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
>_________________________________________________________________
>
>FURTHER TO ACTION ALERT - ZIMBABWE
>
>25 February 1998
>
>Concerns rise over freedom of expression implications of new
>telecommunications bill.
>
>SOURCE: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek
>
>**Please note that this action alert provides additional information
>to IFEX action alert dated 24 February 1998**
>
>(MISA/IFEX) - Media workers and civil society representatives in
>Zimbabwe have called on the government to amend Zimbabwe's draft
>communications bill in order to allow for an independent
>telecommunications and broadcasting regulator that is legally free
>from state, government or political party control. They would like to
>see the creation of a body which puts public interest first and has
>the power to regulate and issue licenses for public, community and
>private broadcasting services.
>
>Concluding MISA-Zimbabwe's  two-day workshop on the liberalization of
>the airwaves, they called for a regulatory body which would be
>accountable only to the Zimbabwean people through parliament.
>According to one resolution released at the end of the workshop, "the
>public interest should underlie all aspects of communication policy,
>regulation and operations."
>
>Among other issues, the workshop focused on the proposed
>Communications Bill 1997. The bill specifically excludes the granting
>of broadcasting licenses from the powers of the Communications
>Authority.  Clause 33 (2) provides that only the Zimbabwe
>Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) shall operate, or have in its
>possession or control, a broadcast station. This clause effectively
>retains the ZBC's monopoly over the airwaves.
>
>Media workers are worried that by providing for this monopoly and
>establishing an authority appointed by the Minister of Information in
>consultation with the President, the bill will undermine attempts to
>free the airwaves and create an independent authority appointed to
>regulate broadcasting and telecommunications activities in the public
>interest. According to them, "in a democratic society... diversity of
>opinion should be related to the principle of independence.
>Recognition of this principle is implicit in the establishment of a
>Communications Authority as a body to regulate broadcasting or
>telecommunications independently of state or commercial interests."
>
>The draft Bill also retains monopoly in telecommunications services,
>with the exception of cellular phone services, for a successor
>company of the existing Posts and Telecommunications Corporation
>(PTC). All shares in the successor company will be held by persons
>nominated by the Minister of Information on behalf of the state.
>
>Other areas of concern over the draft bill are:
>
>1. It empowers the State President, under the auspices of either
>public security or the maintenance of law and order (neither are
>defined), to order a postal or telecommunications licensee to:
>
>-intercept or detain a postal article and deliver it to an employee
>of the state to be disposed of in such a manner as directed by the
>President; or -intercept or monitor any telecommunication service; or
>-the suspension of any telecommunications service or service to a
>named person.
>
>2. It allows a police officer to order that any postal article is
>detained under suspicion that it may contain evidence, without the
>requirement of a court order and;
>
>3. It provides for a fine of up to 2500 Zimbabwean Dollars and/or
>imprisonment of up to six months for making a phone call with the
>purposes of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
>
>The Zimbabwean Government's timetable is to have the bill enacted as
>law by the end of March 1998. A counter proposal has been drafted
>with the help of Professor Ncube of the University of Zimbabwe Law
>Faculty. This proposal, which underlines the principles of public
>interest and independence will be submitted by MISA-Zimbabwe to the
>government in the near future.
>
>RECOMMENDED ACTION:
>
>Send appeals to authorities:
>-calling for the removal of ZBC's monopoly of the airwaves
>-urging them not to introduce legislation which stifles, rather than
>enhances, free speech -calling for the creation of a democratic and
>independent telecommunications and broadcasting regulator free from
>government control -appealing for a transparent and independent
>process in selecting the board of the regulator and the PTC's
>successor telecommunications company
>
>APPEALS TO:
>
>Rt. Hon. Chen Chimutengwende
>Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications
>8th Floor
>Linquenda House
>Box CY 1276, Causeway
>Harare, Zimbabwe
>Tel: +263 4 706891/3 or 706891
>Fax: +263 4 720982
>
>Rt. Hon. Speaker C. Ndebele
>Parliament of Zimbabwe
>Nelson Mandela Avenue
>P.O. Box CY 298
>Causeway
>Harare, Zimbabwe
>Tel: +263 4 708 921 / 729 722
>Fax: +263 4 795 548
>
>Rt. Hon. Minister Witness Mangwenda
>Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
>5th Floor
>Corner House
>Samara Machel Avenue
>Harare, Zimbabwe
>Tel: +263 4 774 620 -7
>Fax: +263 4 772 993
>
>Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
>
>For further information, contact Bright Mwape at MISA, Street
>Address; 9 Mozart Street, Mailing Address;  Private Bag 13386
>Windhoek, Namibia, tel:
>+264 61 232975, fax: +264 61 248016, e-mail:
>+bright@ingrid.misa.org.na,
>research@ingrid.misa.org.na, Internet: http://www.misanet.org/.
>
>The information contained in this action alert update is the sole
>responsibility of MISA. In citing this material for broadcast or
>publication, please credit MISA.
>_________________________________________________________________
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>
David Lush
PO Box 8828
Backbrecht
Windhoek
Namibia
Tel: +264 61 252946 (h) 236970 (w)
Fax: c/o +264 61 233980
e-mail: shirumbu@iafrica.com.na