and Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa, which guarantee and protect freedom of expression. The retention and increased application of these laws is therefore emblematic of intolerance to media freedom and freedom of expression and determination on the part of public officials to instil fear and self-censorship in the media. Criminal defamation laws have no place in modern democracies and should thus be scrapped. In modern and civilized democracies complaints against the media are handled by self-regulatory bodies such as the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe or through civil courts as opposed to criminalising a profession that is key to the exercise and enjoyment of fundamental human rights. This calls for the urgent repeal of provisions on criminal defamation as enshrined in the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act as these laws impinge on the fundamental right to seek, access, receive, impart and share information on issues of public interest. The cases in question relate to the court case against The Standard editor Nevanji Madanhire, reporter Patience Nyangove and the publishing company’s human resources manager. Stanley Gama, editor of the Daily News and his deputy Chris Goko are also facing a $25 million criminal defamation suit. Gama and Goko were arrested and detained at Harare Central Police station on 8 October 2012 over a story alleging that the disappearance of businessman Munyaradzi Kereke’s family was a hoax. The two who spent four hours at the police station, were released after signing warned and cautioned statements in which they denied Kereke’s criminal defamation charges. Other cases involved Dennis Kagonye editor of The Weekly Mirror and journalist Nhau Mangirazi. Kudakwashe Matura, a community news activist was remanded to December 12 for trial on criminal defamation charges. Matura was later acquitted of the charges. The year under review also saw an increase in the number of citizens being arrested for allegedly insulting the President – a development which only serves to curb free expression and impacts negatively on the media’s watchdog role over the three arms of the state. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said it was representing more than 50 individuals arrested and taken to court in terms of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with undermining the authority of or insulting the President. 6R7KLVLV'HPRFUDF\" $FFHVVWR,QIRUPDWLRQ The right to freedom of expression, media freedom and of access to information is enshrined in a number of international and regional instruments, which Zimbabwe has acceded to. Thus, by acceding to the instruments, Zimbabwe is obliged to uphold these provisions through its legislative framework. In other words, Zimbabwe’s laws on free expression, access to information and media freedom should conform to the benchmarks set by these regional