| Victim/
Concerned Party |
Violation/
Event/issue |
Date |
Status
of matter |
| Trevor
Ncube, publisher of the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard and
Mail and Guardian. |
Filed for
a High Court order compelling the Registrar -General Tobaiwa
Mudede to renew his passport following his application for Zimbabwean
citizenship. |
3 January
2007 |
Ncube cited
the RG and Minister of Home Affairs as respondents after Mudede
refused to renew his passport saying Ncube was a Zambian by
descent and was required to renounce that country's citizenship
in terms of Zambian law. |
| Media and
Information Commission (MIC). |
The MIC
gazetted prohibitive application fees for the registration of
mass media services and accreditation of journalists. |
30 December
2006 |
The massive
increments which were condemned as designed to restrict media
freedom and freedom of expression were gazetted under the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) (Registration,
Accreditation and Levy (Amendment) Regulation 2006 (No 3) published
in the government gazette on 30 December 2006. |
| George
Charamba, the Secretary of Information and Publicity. |
Charamba
threatened the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard following the
Registrar-General's refusal to renew Trevor Ncube's
passport. He referred to Ncube as Aphiri, a derogatory
reference to Zimbabweans of Malawian extraction describing the
year 2007 as the "year of closure". |
6 January
2006. |
Charamba
writes as Nathaniel Manheru in the government-controlled national
daily, The Herald's Saturday column, The Other Side. |
| Nunurai
Jena, freelance journalist. |
The Media
and Information Commission (MIC) summoned Jena to appear before
the Commission for a hearing over an expired accreditation card
allegedly issued to him "in error" by the state-controlled
media body. |
12 January
2007 |
The
MIC ordered him to appear for a hearing at its offices in
Harare on 1 February 2007. The MC's machinations are
widely seen as designed to deny Jena accreditation for the
year 2007. |
| Selestin
Jengeta, a teacher in Masvingo. |
Jengeta
spent three days in lice-infested police cells. He was arrested
for remarking during a television news bulletin that the Zimbabwean
crisis would only end upon the death of President Robert Mugabe. |
16 January
2007 |
The teacher
was remanded out of custody to 20 February 2007 after being
charged with contravening the Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with undermining
or insulting the President. |
| Gibson
Murinye and Collen Mwachikopa. |
The two
appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Timeon Makunde on charges
of contravening the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act
after they were charged with singing a song derogatory of President
Mugabe. |
16 January
2007 |
Remanded
in custody to 27 February 2007. |
| Caiphus
Chimhete, The Standard and The Zimbabwean
newspapers. |
The RBZ
threatened to sue Chimhete, the privately owned Standard
and The Zimbabwean over stories reporting that
Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono had bought himself a top of
the range Mercedes Benz Brabus for US$ 365 000. The Standard
published the story on 7 January 2007. |
16 January
2007 |
The
Standard later retracted the story and apologised to the
Governor for the erroneous report. Gono withdrew the libel suit. |
| Zimbabwe
National Editors Forum (Zinef). |
The editors'
forum condemned the Registrar-General's refusal to renew
Trevor Ncube's passport as a direct assault on his freedom
of expression and movement. |
17 January
2007 |
Ncube argued
that the withdrawal of his citizenship was unlawful as he has
never been a citizen of any other country other than Zimbabwe
but contends that his father was born in Zambia but is also
a Zimbabwean citizen. |
| Posts and
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ). |
POTRAZ
imposed uncompetitive tariffs without taking into account the
termination rates of regional and international calls paid in
foreign currency. |
18 January
2007. |
Zimbabwe's
mobile phone operators face serious viability problems which
could see some of them winding their businesses because of the
imposition of uncompetitive tariffs. |
| Trevor
Ncube, publisher of the Standard and Zimbabwe Independent. |
Hearing
in the matter in which the publisher was seeking a High Court
order compelling the Registrar General to renew his passport
is postponed. |
24 January
2007 |
The matter
was postponed to 25 January 2007 at the request of the Attorney-General's
Office which said it needed time to consider an opinion on Zambian
citizenship laws. |
| Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). |
The ZBC
increased radio and television licence fees by more than 100
percent. |
24 January
2007 |
The fees
were increased through a Statutory Instrument published in the
Government Gazette on 24 January 2007. |
| Trevor
Ncube, publisher of the Standard and Zimbabwe Independent. |
High Court
judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that the refusal to renew
Ncube's passport was unlawful. |
25 January
2007 |
He ordered
the Registrar-General to meet Ncube's legal costs. |
| The Financial
Gazette.The state-controlled Media and Information Commission
(MIC) is still to license the weekly Financial Gazette after
the expiry of its two-year operating licence under the controversial
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. |
The state-controlled
Media and Information Commission (MIC) is still to license the
weekly Financial Gazette after the expiry of its two-year operating
licence under the controversial Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act. |
31 January
2007 |
The editor
of the Financial Gazette, Sunsley Chamunorwa, confirmed that
they were still to be licensed after lodging the requisite re-registration
documents. The MIC is reportedly refusing to license the weekly
until it discloses its ownership. |
