Operational Context The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), together with the Public Order and Security Act, enacted in 2002, were among some of the most repressive laws used to suppress media freedom and free speech in Zimbabwe. It is in that regard that the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act in 2020, as part of the unbundling of AIPPA, was welcomed as one of the progressive steps taken by the government of Zimbabwe towards the alignment of the country’s laws with the Constitution. Scores and scores of journalists were arrested under AIPPA while newspapers such as The Daily News and The Tribune were closed under this law which at that time was used as the weapon of choice against dissenting voices and media workers. During the year under review, and as the country forged ahead with the media policy and law reform processes, another significant milestone was the licensing of the country’s first ever ‘privately owned’ television stations, and community radio stations. However, with the coming into being of the 2013 Constitution with its highly acclaimed Bill of Rights and explicit provisions on citizens right to access to information, it became increasingly clear that AIPPA was anathema to the enjoyment of the very same right it purported to protect. However, these otherwise positive outcomes on the media reforms front, were marred by the government’s seeming determination to amend the 2013 Constitution prior to the alignment of several laws that are not in sync with the country’s supreme law enacted in 2013. This point was driven home under Section 62 of the 2013 Constitution (on access to information), that new legislation had to be enacted to give effect to the enjoyment of that right, thus paving way for the repealing of AIPPA. This came in the wake of the conclusion of the public hearings on the Constitution Amendment No.2 Bill. The Bill gazetted on 17 January 2020, is made up of 27 sections that propose to amend no less than 30 sections of the Constitution. ‘‘ The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), together with the Public Order and Security Act, enacted in 2002, were among some of the most repressive laws used to suppress media freedom and free speech in Zimbabwe. 6