×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

AMH constitutional challenge in false start

News
THE constitutional application filed by NewsDay Deputy Editor Nqaba Matshazi, reporter Xolisani Ncube and Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) legal assistant Sifikile Thabete, challenging the law used to arrest them on charges of “publishing or communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State”, was yesterday postponed indefinitely owing to the improperly paginated court record.

THE constitutional application filed by NewsDay Deputy Editor Nqaba Matshazi, reporter Xolisani Ncube and Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) legal assistant Sifikile Thabete, challenging the law used to arrest them on charges of “publishing or communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State”, was yesterday postponed indefinitely owing to the improperly paginated court record.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Justice Malaba
Justice Malaba

The three were arrested in December 2015 when NewsDay published a story entitled CIO secretly gets bonuses.

AMH are publishers of NewsDay, Southern Eye, The Standard and Zimbabwe Independent.

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt), led by Acting Chief Justice Luke Malaba, also took the opportunity of the postponement and ordered the parties “to consider the applicability of the doctrine of avoidance” before the hearing of the matter on a date yet to be set down by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

The order by Justice Malaba means the ball is now in the State’s court to prove how the alleged published statement was prejudicial to the State and what offence, if any, the media house is alleged to have committed by the publication.

“By consent, the matter is postponed sine die (indefinitely) in order to enable the applicants to prepare a properly paginated court record and all the parties should consider the applicability of the doctrine of avoidance,” Justice Malaba said.

The article leading to the trio’s arrest claimed that CIO officers had been paid their December 2015 bonuses ahead of other civil servants.

AMH lawyer Taona Nyamakura successfully applied to have the court proceedings at the Harare Magistrates’ Court against the trio stayed until the ConCourt decides on the constitutionality of the law, which the suspects argue infringes on their right to freedom of media and expression.

They argued that the law, in its current form, was too wide and vague on what it defines as a “falsehood” and this had seen the State abusing the law to punish those who publish unpalatable truth.

“The factual allegations underlying the charge do not constitute an offence. First respondent (the Prosecutor-General) has to date, never explained how a story about the CIO can adversely affect the defence and economic interests of Zimbabwe,” Nyamakura said.

“Arresting the applicants based on such tenuous facts on such a serious charge is a clear violation of their right to protection of the law.”

He added: “We submit that not only are the provisions unconstitutional on their face on account of the chilling effect the very existence of such law has on the right to freedom of expression, the provisions are unconstitutional in effect as they do not serve any genuine purpose and do not possess a demonstrable effect of protecting a legitimate and constitutionally-sanctioned interest.” Matshazi, Ncube and Thabete have now been on remand for over 15 months.