(MISA/IFEX) - Zimbabwean E-TV reporter Peter Moyo, who is based in South Africa, has been fined Z$40,000 (approx. US$160) under the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) for practising journalism in Zimbabwe without accreditation.
Moyo was convicted and fined together with Trymore Zvidzai, who is based in Zimbabwe, when they appeared before Mutare magistrate Tsungisai Madzivaidze following their arrest in that town on 5 February 2007, for contravening Section 83 (1) of AIPPA, which prohibits " . . . persons other than an accredited journalist (to) practise as a journalist (or to) be employed as such . . . "
They were arrested together with Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) employees, Manicaland bureau chief Andrew Neshamba and Harare-based cameraperson William Gumbo, after they were found in possession of video equipment which they were using to cover illegal mining activities in Marange village in Manicaland Province.
Neshamba and Gumbo, who are being charged under Section 174 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23, which deals with criminal abuse of duty by public officers, were remanded to March 21, 2007 for trial.
Their arrest and conviction follows that of Beauty Mokoba and Keketso Seofela from Botswana Television (BTV), who were the first non-Zimbabwean journalists to be convicted under AIPPA since its promulgation in 2002. Mokoba and Seofela pleaded guilty to contravening Section 83 (1) of the Act.
The BTV journalists were also convicted on their own plea of contravening Section 12(1) of the Immigration Act. Beauty Mokoba and Keketso Seofela were arrested on 30 April 2006 in the south western town of Plumtree while covering measures being taken in Zimbabwe to combat an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
