NewsDay | Friday December 17 2021 MISA Zimbabwe@25: Reflections on media law reforms MISA Zimbabwe's enduring legacy BY CRIS CHINAKA T HE Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has produced this special publication to commemorate 25 years of sterling work by its Zimbabwe chapter in helping to promote access to information, in defending press freedom and developing a plural media environment to serve the needs of the public in the region. While there is still so much to do to advance this work, the commendable contribution by the MISA Zimbabwe family in advancing the interests of the larger public deserves to be celebrated. This work has included the establishment of a flourishing network of active provincial membership structures to assist in protecting the media space, lobby against restrictive laws, upgrade skills and in growing the industry. It has been a case of collective effort by many people, from the struggles of the founders of the regional body and successive office holders in national chapters, to the solidarity secured from a wide range of structures across professional, community, social, economic and political sectors. A quarter of a century after the establishment of MISA Zimbabwe, the media world has changed in many respects, and it continues to change. MISA Zimbabwe, as a national chapter and as a member of the regional collective, needs to continue playing the role that it has been critically fulfilling over the years: offering strong thought and inspiring leadership in the implementation of impactful and practical programmes in the information and media sphere. Other chapters in southern Africa have acknowledged this key contribution by electing the MISA Zimbabwe National Governing Council (NGC) chairperson, Golden Maunganidze, and national director, Tabani Moyo, as chairperson MISA Regional Governing Council and director MISA Regional, respectively. This leadership responsibility means there is a need to take stock of the past and the present, and to look ahead to the challenges of the future. MISA Zimbabwe@25: the milestones BY GOLDEN MAUNGANIDZE Introduction O UR lived reality today in which Zimbabwe now has private commercial radio stations and licensed television stations and community radio stations, was 25 years ago deemed inconceivable, if not utopian and risky. These milestones and notable achievements are grounded through the vision of the men and women who launched the regional Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Regional) in 1992 to promote free, independent, diverse and pluralistic media as envisaged in the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Free and Independent Media. The cascading effect of their vision and foresight gave birth to MISA Zimbabwe as we know it today as one of the regional chapters of the MISA Regional outfit, 25 years ago. Today, MISA Zimbabwe has grown to being the lead media freedom, freedom of expression and access to information organisation whose footprints and achievements are easily traceable and historically recorded accordingly. Milestones Constitutional provisions on media freedom, freedom of expression • MISA Zimbabwe was the lead organisation in pushing for explicit constitutional provisions on freedom of expression, media freedom and citizens right to access to information. • Through its incessant lobby and advocacy work in that regard, Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution, for the first time since its replacement of the independence Lancaster House Constitution, now has explicit provisions on freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information provided for in terms of Sections 61 & 62 of the Constitution. Golden Maunganidze Dismantling of AIPPA The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), enacted in 2002, had been used to harass, arrest, detain journalists and media workers as well as the closure of newspapers such as the and the Tribune. Following the closures, MISA Zimbabwe launched the Bring Back the Daily News campaign as part of the spirited campaigns for the repealing of AIPPA as a draconian law that impinged on media freedom, freedom of expression, and ultimately, citizens right to access information through a free, independent and diverse media. These advocacy and lobby campaigns, culminated in the dismantling of AIPPA, and enactment of the Freedom of Information Act in July 2020, to give effect and enforce the enjoyment of citizens right to access to information as provided by Section 62 of the Constitution. To page M2 This also means an ability to mobilise resources and skills to tackle these challenges, define and secure the complementary supporting roles that the state, the general public, the media, civil society, commerce and industry and other social forces, need to play in countering damaging trends threatening the information and media ecosystem,and working for a better system. Besides the usual dark cloud that politics and monopolies cast on the media and information environment, the stratospheric rise in misinformation and disinformation, the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty arising from climate change, have compounded the crisis the world is facing. This includes Zimbabwe and the Southern African region in which MISA is working. While we are rightly celebrating yesterday’s achievements, our major focus today should be on tomorrow. The cause is simple and straightforward: to work for a media and information ecosystem that serves the greater public interest. MISA Zimbabwe Board of Trustees chairperson Cris Chinaka M1