7 December 2021
Shamila N Mdlongwa
The President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill inspite of all the criticism it got from human rights groups and the call for further clarification and spliting of the bill into three laws.
The Bill legislates against cyber bullying (online bullying), child pornography, revenge porn and xenophobic amongst other online ills and also the protection of data.
The bill has provisions of investigation and collection of evidence of cyber-crime and unauthorised data and breaches.
It is said to create a ‘technology driven business environment and encourage technological development and the lawful use of technology.’
However, its downside is that it is a media muzzling law and infringes on human rights.
Human rights advocates say that authorities in this country have routinely used laws to arrest opposition members and curtail their activities.
This law was first talked about after an investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono exposed the Drax Scandal involving a high profile politician, Obadiah Moyo who was the Minister of Health and Child Care at the time.
Zimbabwe is said to have ‘freedom of speech but not freedom after speech’ because of such media laws.
Soon after Hopewell was arrested the law was fast tracked into enactment which made many human rights consider that it might be a law that seeks to curtail public opinion, freedom of speech and whistle blowing.
The Act turned a blind on whistleblowers as they are the ones that alert anti-corruption authorities and media about suspicious cases and also on ‘innocently wrong texts’ that people can post.
The Act still needs to be reviewed and amended because most of its provisions infringe on freedom of speech and expression.
Zim GBC News