Z imbabwe’s new Constitution, established in 2013, now explicitly guarantees the right to media freedom and citizens’ right to access to information, offering immense opportunity to realign the country’s repressive media laws with the new constitutional provisions. Sadly, that has not happened and there appears to be a distinct lack of political will to do so. Tellingly, when President Robert Mugabe officially opened the second session of the Eighth Parliament on 28 0ctober 2014, he unveiled 15 Bills to be tabled during the session for alignment with the new constitution. Of the 15, not one related to improving media freedom, freedom of expression or access to information (ATI). The closest the government has come to the expected reforms is listing AIPPA among the 400-plus laws being scrutinized by an inter-ministerial committee for realignment. As a result, laws crafted under the old constitution continue to corrode the democratic principles and human rights safeguards contained in the new constitution, including explicit guarantees for media freedom, promotion and protection of freedom of expression and access to information. This legislative disjuncture has been underscored, in 2014, by authorities using the country’s harsh media laws to arrest and harass journalists; ban marches and gatherings by media practitioners, civil society organisations and members of the public; and restrict citizens’ freedom of expression through online platforms. Tellingly, when President Robert Mugabe officially opened the second session of the Eighth Parliament on 28 0ctober 2014, he unveiled 15 Bills to be tabled during the session for alignment with the new constitution. Of the 15, not one related to improving media freedom, freedom of expression or access to information. Examples include the arrest of Daily News editor Stanley Gama and reporter Fungai Kwaramba under criminal defamation laws; the conviction of provincial community newspaper publisher James Muonwa under AIPPA in April 2014; and the raiding of community radio initiatives, Radio Dialogue and Radio Kwelaz in April and June 2014 respectively, under suspicions they violated the Broadcasting Services Act. So This is Democracy? 2014 83