SECTOR 1 1.6 Confidential sources of information are protected by law and/or the courts There is a constitutional provision on the protection of the confidentiality of journalists’ sources of information (section 61.2). In addition, the Interception of Communications Act stresses that communications are private and that interception of such, outside the framework of the Act, is illegal. Despite suspicions that the illegal interception of communications is taking place, there have been no recorded cases of people being prosecuted for this. One case against an online publication was labelled by the courts as “commercial bullying”, after a rival company sought to obtain commercial information. ‘It was a case of twisting the law for commercial reasons.’ There was also a case in which Trevor Ncube, who had written about an issue before it had been presented to parliament, was summoned to appear before a Parliamentary Portfolio committee and forced to reveal his source. Even under the new constitution, this committee can be convened as a court and has similar powers. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: Score of previous years: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 3.7 2006: 1; 2008: 1.2; 2010: 1.4; 2012: 3; 2015: 4 1.7 Public information is easily accessible, guaranteed by law, to the public Access to public information is guaranteed both in the constitution and the AIPPA Act. The new Access to Information Bill, which looks at public and private information, provides for the creation of information officer positions, along with clear information access procedures. However, the current ease of access to certain information is debatable. It involves ‘a lot of hoops to jump over’, and public officials feel they can withhold information by using the Official Secrets Act as an excuse. There is also the problem of declassification of information. Forty years after the war, there is still material that cannot be accessed. 13 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2020