Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. HEART & Soul TV (HStv) will file a notice for referral of its case to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) after Harare magistrate Learnmore Mapiye yesterday dismissed its application challenging placement on remand.
Mapiye said the court was of the considered view that the grounds submitted by the State were sufficient for placing the company on remand.
However, HStv lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa filed a notice to apply for referral of the matter to the ConCourt, saying the company cannot be stopped from exercising its constitutional duty of disseminating information to the
public.
Mtetwa said she would file the application for referral to the ConCourt on May 7 this year, with the prosecutor promising to respond to the application on the same day.
She submitted that HStv, represented by Olga Muteiwa, denied the allegations and challenged placement on remand, saying the facts did not disclose an offence.
“The said statements that are said to have constituted an offence relate to comments supplied peacefully,” she said.
Mtetwa said the court was obliged to uphold the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and should protect those rights.
The human rights lawyer said placing the company on remand would constitute a violation of the rights of the people of Zimbabwe.
“The Press should be allowed, particularly by the court, to report in a balanced, fair, objective and factual manner what is going on in society. The public has the right to information and dissemination can be done without the involvement the company,” she
said.
Mtetwa said journalist Blessed Mhlanga disseminated the same information in November 2017, indicating that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had been fired as the country’s Vice-President.
“The journalist, who covered a story at ZBC similar to this one by Blessed Mhlanga and the information published by NewsDay on 9 November 2017, that Emmerson Mnangagwa had just been fired and fled the country and was in South Africa, made it very clear that they were reporting what was happening,” she said.
She argued that Mhlanga was not prosecuted for disseminating what Mnangagwa said then, while NewsDay was not prosecuted for publishing what he said because section 61 of the Constitution is clear on freedom of the media.
Mtetwa said HStv expressed the views of the people who were interviewed and should not be prosecuted for that.
“What was disseminated by the accused company consists of topical political discourse that the people of Zimbabwe are entitled to know in the same way they were entitled to receive similar political discourse of Mnangagwa in November 2017.
“For these reasons, we have no reason to place the accused company on remand for observing its duty. Journalists with respect, your worship, would immediately be in self-censorship in fear of prosecution and media companies will also fear publishing opposing material in fear of prosecution,” she said.
Mtetwa said the allegations did not state that Mhlanga worked for HStv, but it placed him as the company, adding that this seemed to be a fishing expedition.
However, Chirenje argued that the facts do disclose an offence, saying there are limitations to section 61 of the Constitution, which formed the basis of the allegations.
In terms of the law, the accused is properly charged with a crime within the statutes of the country. This particular offence is still within the laws of the land and has not been repealed,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mhlanga is set to appear before High Court judge Justice Gibson Mandaza, appealing for his freedom today.
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