Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa was this week grilled by South African media as she struggled to defend the Government policies and laws.
Mutsvangwa was interviewed by journalist Cathy Mohlahlana on South African television station, Newzroom Africa, on Thursday night where she had a hard time explaining Zimbabwe’s so-called Patriotic Bill and the apparent refusal by Zimbabwean nationals based in South Africa to return home.
The Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill 2022, commonly referred to as the “Patriotic Bill”, criminalizes “wilfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe”.
The Bill awaits Presidential assent after it sailed in both Houses of Parliament, that is, the National Assembly and Senate.
Mutsvangwa, who was apparently trying to “clean” Zimbabwe’s image ahead of the 23 August 2023 elections, which she repeatedly erroneously said were just a month away, said:
The role of that bill is to make sure citizens love their country. That means you cannot go about talking bad about your own country.
Zimbabwe is sovereign and this is not the first country that has that patriotic bill.
That has been going on. We are talking about sanctions on your country, talking about a coup in your country.
Mutsvangwa professed ignorance when asked about candidate nomination fees and the subsequent failure of other candidates to file their nomination papers. She said:
We have not heard of any report of anybody who wanted to file for the Presidential candidate who was not able to do it.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has filed two notices of appeal at the Electoral Court appealing against the decision of the Nomination Court, which rejected Linda Masarira and Elisabeth Valerio’s nomination as presidential candidates.
Masarira and Valerio failed to pay the required US$20,000 fee by the end of Wednesday to register their candidacy for the election.
Meanwhile, Mutsvangwa denied reports that the Government is trampling on citizens’ fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression, and accused the opposition of victimising journalists. She said:
We are happy when democracy is being practiced. As a Minister of Information, the mandate was to make sure that I bring Zimbabweans together, we remove all the polarisation which existed. We have been aligning our media laws with the Constitution.
I do not know where this has been happening. The truth of the matter is what I know is we have had some journalists beaten up when they attend opposition rallies and that has been dealt with.
Mutsvangwa also said all Zimbabweans who are in South Africa are free to return home if it is a “crime” for them to be in South Africa.
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