State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 ZIMBABWE Press Statement May 7, 2003 TOPIC: Repealing of Section 80 of AIPPA. Following is a statement on the repeal of Section 80 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). T he Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) welcomes the striking down of section 80 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). We regard this as a victory for all those who believe and are fighting for freedom of expression and the rights of media workers. We note that since the enactment of the AIPPA Bill, MISA-Zimbabwe and other media stakeholders have been calling for the repealing of not only section 80, but the entire Act which we believe does not hold any ingredients that promote access to information. Since the enactment of AIPPA in March 2002, over 34 charges have been brought against journalists and other media persons under section 80. It was also clear that the section was being abused to target private media journalists only. Section 80 rendered the practice of journalism criminal and impossible. To date all efforts to commence dialogue with the concerned Ministry have proven unsuccessful. It is therefore with great relief and vindication that the courts have seen it prudent to strike this section off the statutes books. Section 80 was in many aspects similar to some sections of the repealed Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA). There is no doubt that the government simply re-introduced legislation that it knows was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court a few years ago. MISA-Zimbabwe hails the consistency that has been shown by the Supreme Court so far. The striking of section 80 gives us hope that the courts will find many of the sections in AIPPA that negatively affect the work of journalists as equally unconstitutional. Press Statement May 21, 2003 TOPIC: Deportation of Guardian correspondent Andrew Meldrum from Zimbabwe T he summary illegal deportation in defiance of Supreme Court orders of the London Guardian correspondent Andrew Meldrum from Zimbabwe on May 16 raises several serious issues which impact on the treatment of journalists, the rule of law and the conduct of the President and his officials, states the South African Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. The South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-South Africa) condemns the deportation as an unwarranted attack on the freedom and independence of the media and an abrogation of the rights of a journalist to pursue legal redress against the authoritarian conduct of officials. He is the sixth foreign correspondent to be deported from Zimbabwe, a clear indication that the government seeks to prevent information about the political and economic disaster that it has visited on the country to be reported on. So This Is Democracy? 2003 143 Media Institute of Southern Africa