AIPPA

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was enforced in 2002 by the Zimbabwean Parliament under the majority of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) and President Robert Mugabe.

Amendments have been made in 2003 concerning the definition of mass media services, journalistic abuses and heads of offices (Media Institute of Southern Africa, 2003) and 2005 with regard to the imprisonment of journalists According to the official Zimbabwean government position, Canada’s information legislation served as an inspiration for the AIPPA However, the non-governmental organisation ARTICLE 19 suggests, it was rather the context of the growing opposition party and the nearly electoral defeat of the ruling ZANU-PF in 2000 pushing for more restrictive laws on independent and government media.

The AIPPA shall provide a legal framework for the access and conduct of requesting information from public bodies and privacy as well as for the regulation of mass media by the establishment of a Media and Information Commission. Especially the latter is subject to harsh critique from various governments, non-governmental organisations and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression because of severe media restrictions. Following the massive critique, David Banisar stated that AIPPA is a rather cynic name for a media suppressing law.

In terms of entitlement, only citizens of Zimbabwe, permanently residents or holders of temporary employment, residence permit or students permit are eligible to make a request. Foreign nationals and agencies as well as unregistered mass media are excluded. This contrasts with chapter four of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights stating that everyone should have the right to access information held by public bodies Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa. After the request is made, a response on behalf of the public office regarding the applicability should be sent within 30 days. However, these 30 days can be extended on the grounds of various reasons with the agreement of the Media and Information Commission. One possible reason might be that the request is not in the public interest.

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