THE Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe has given the Zimbabwe Media Commission a 24-hour ultimatum to suspend the proposed new media accreditation categories, saying the proposed categories were discriminatory, dangerous and injurious to media freedom.
In the letter addressed to ZMC chief executive officer Tafataona Mahoso, Misa-Zimbabwe said they were giving Mahoso up to today midday to favourably respond to their concerns or else they would approach the courts for recourse.
“It has come to our attention that the ZMC secretariat intends to introduce new accreditation categories for the 2020 registration of media houses and accreditation of journalists in the next few days.
Misa-Zimbabwe said ZMC proceeded to notify the Zimbabwe Republic Police of the changes without consulting the media industry, saying they could have worked the plan together to make sure that the accreditation process is free of controversy.
“We, therefore, now call for the suspension of your projected introduction of the proposed new categories pending the completion of a consultative process that should enable ZMC secretariat and concerned stakeholders to agree on the best mutually beneficial accreditation system.”
