Malaba ruled that: “The fact that a person has told lies to others on any subject matter should not be of concern to the State.” had been throttled ahead of the launch of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change party. The Constitutional Court further ordered the striking down of provisions that criminalised the publication of falsehoods. With that context, it is surprising that the government still criminalises the publication of falsehoods and such cases are entertained by the courts. Furthermore, the then Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services minister Monica Mutsvangwa, told an Internet Governance Forum meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that shutting down the internet during conflicts was “justified to prevent digital platforms and social media from spreading propaganda and fake news, which might result in bloodshed”. (15) (14) It is also important to note that the High Court ruled in 2021 that the Section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act that had been used to charge journalist Hopewell Chin’ono for allegedly publishing false information was non-existent. (9) This raised the spectre that the Zimbabwean government could resort to an internet shutdown ahead of elections. Media pluralism This raises the question on why the State went ahead with charging and convicting politicians in 2023 on a law that had been said to be nonexistent about two years before. The age-old problem of State media bias was again evident in 2023 and the past election. Despite legal and constitutional provisions detailing how the State-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) should operate, particularly during elections, it remains defiant. (16) Zimbabwe has a history of throttling or blocking the internet. Ahead of the 2023 elections, the internet in Zimbabwe was degraded. There are different reasons that were given for the degradation of the internet. The broadcaster retained it’s position of bias, with the European Union Electoral Observer Mission (EU-EOM) noting that ZBC-TV devoted more than two-thirds of its news and current affairs coverage to President Mnangagwa, and the current government. Internet watchdog NetBlocks reported that internet service had been throttled in Zimbabwe on the eve of the country’s general elections. The degradation had affected customers of leading internet service providers including NetOne, Econet, TelOne and Liquid. (10) On the other hand, ZBC-owned radio stations gave the ruling party almost all their electionrelated airtime. (17) However, a different school of thought said that some undersea cables had been damaged on August 8, 2023 and this could have been the reason for the degradation of the internet. (11) The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission (SADC-EOM) noted that State media was unfair against the opposition, in that it “the content of the public broadcaster and the state-owned newspapers were in favour of one political party, contrary to the relevant provisions of the [Zimbabwean] constitution, the Electoral Act, and the Revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, which requires Stateowned media to be impartial.” (18) In 2016, the government cut off access to social media sites following demonstrations organised by #ThisFlag — a protest movement. (12) In 2019, the country was engulfed by demonstrations following an increase in fuel prices. (13) The report went on to point out that it had noted some improvements compared to the 2018 electoral processes. This led to a weeklong internet shutdown that was ended by the High Court following an application by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and MISA. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is mandated by law to set up a committee that monitors the operations of the media during elections. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and MISA sought to have the internet shutdown declared unlawful. ZEC is also mandated to produce a report on the conduct of the media during elections. This In 2022, there were reports that the internet 97 STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023