Access to Information · 22 February 2022 · 5 min read
Information Bill an Opportunity to Curb Misinformation & False News
On Zimbabwe’s Freedom of Information Act, the repeal of AIPPA, and what access to information means for women, girls and young people.
Digital platforms have opened up who can publish and how far information travels, and at the same time made disinformation and hoaxes cheaper to produce and faster to spread than the corrections that follow them. During COVID-19 the World Health Organization described this as an infodemic running alongside the epidemic.
This commentary reads Zimbabwe’s Freedom of Information Act — which replaced the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) — as an opportunity rather than only a restriction. The Act gives citizens and journalists the access to information provided for by Section 62 of the Constitution, requires public and private entities to designate Information Officers and maintain a written disclosure policy, and obliges them to supply information in the language the applicant requests.
It also looks at the ‘My Freedom of Information’ campaign led by Tag a Life International Trust with Identities Media TV, and argues that the law matters most for the people usually left outside these processes: women, girls and young people, who can use it to participate in local governance, assert their rights and monitor how public resources are used.