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barred from being sold in Zimbabwe until they comply with the law.
ZMC chairperson, Mr Godfrey Majonga, yesterday said the newspapers have not registered with them together with their journalists, making their regulatory work to superintend over all publications circulating in the country difficult.
The media services, said Mr Majonga, had collected registration forms and invoices of fees from them but have not done anything more than one year down the line.
“In the meantime persons offended and otherwise affected by the newsgathering and the stories appearing in the said papers have been coming to the commission seeking redress or information, but neither the publication nor their journalists appear in our registers. The ZMC has therefore resolved to appeal to the relevant law enforcement authorities to bar affected papers from entrance into and circulation within Zimbabwe until they comply with Zimbabwe’s laws,” said Mr Majonga in a statement
Mr Majonga said there was a board resolution on 29 July 2010 to invite all foreign-based publications whose primary reportage was focused on Zimbabwe and employing local journalists either to relocate to Harare or obtain permission to operate an office as a foreign mass media service.
This was in terms of Section 90 of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and journalists working for the publication required to be accredited, he said.
The board was subsequently told during its 6th ordinary meeting that letters had indeed been sent to the relevant papers and that some of them, including The Sunday Times of South Africa, had collected registration forms and invoices for fees.
“However, we regret to report that one year and half since our reminder to the affected mass media services to comply with Zimbabwe’s laws by regularising their status and that of all journalists working for them, the same papers and journalists are operating exactly as they were doing a year ago and they have not bothered to approach the commission again or to return the forms and invoices they collected in 2010.
“Such defiance hinders the work of the Constitution,” said Mr Majonga.
Observers have, however, noted that several local journalists writing for these foreign publications have been using pseudonames to evade detection by authorities.
Online Reporter