Harare court orders government to stop taking fees from journalists

Jun 5, 2009, 17:09 GMT

Harare - A Zimbabwean court has ordered a government-run media commission to stop accrediting and interfering with the work of journalists intending to cover the country.

Judge Bharat Patel ordered Friday that the Media and Information Commission was 'defunct' and must stop collecting accreditation fees from journalists.

The ruling followed a case brought by a number of Zimbabwean journalists against the Media and Information Commission for having demanded 150 dollars each for accreditation services for foreign- based reporters wishing to cover the meeting for foreign ministers of the Common Market of East and Southern Africa (Comesa) currently taking place in Victoria Falls.

'I order that the ... MIC and the government stop ... interfering with the journalists who want to cover Comesa and any public event in Zimbabwe,' said Patel.

The Zimbabwean government had been charging 1,500 US dollars for foreign journalists wishing to enter the country, while foreign organizations intending to operate from Zimbabwe would pay 3,000 dollars a year.

Other foreign organizations, such as the BBC and CNN, have been banned from operating in the country.

The MIC had been officially disbanded before the coalition government under Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai was formed in February 2009, although a successor organization has not yet been created.