Minister defends Zimbabwe press law

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which was passed on Thursday ahead of Zimbabwe's presidential elections, makes it illegal for domestic journalists to operate without government accreditation.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault travelled to Zimbabwe to interview the country's Minister of Information, Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is a member of parliament and some observers say, the second most powerful politician in Zimbabwe.

HUNTER-GAULT: Minister Moyo, thank you for joining us. Why did your government need this media bill?

MOYO: It's a bill that serves to foster meaningful access to public information, as well as to protect privacy.

HUNTER-GAULT: But why are so many people, including members of your own party, saying it's a bill aimed at curtailing freedom of expression, abrogating rights and is unconstitutional.?

MOYO: In fact, I've not heard many serious people saying that. This has nothing to do with the freedom of speech and free expression of individuals in the public. It has to do with the regulation of an industry, of a media industry which is driven often by the profit motive or a political agenda. Thomas Jefferson said it was better to have newspapers without government. He was very wrong. It is far better to have government without newspapers.

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What we are seeking to do here through this bill is done throughout the United States and anywhere else in the world. What the international correspondents are demanding of us is that they should just fly in and do what they want, well, nobody allows that anywhere in the world and we are not allowing it.

HUNTER-GAULT: So does that mean that most of the observers and media will be allowed to come and witness whether this election will be free and fair?

MOYO: We have always allowed observers to come and we have always allowed accredited international journalists and there is no reason why we shouldn't do that now. But we are very clear: Tony Blair and his lot will not be allowed to come here. No need for us to invite observers who have already pronounced their judgment. We are saying continue with your colonial arrogance, but in London. You are not welcome in Harare. To the rest of the world, we say, you are most welcome.

HUNTER-GAULT: How do you respond to critics who say that a free and fair election has already been compromised because of the political violence and intimidation? MOYO: Well, they are wrong. But what they are saying is not surprising. It's so predictable. But we should not go by what people with political interests say. But we are concerned about this violence. However, we don't think it's fair to say in Zimbabwe for an election to be free and fair no-one should die. Or no-one should break the law. We have laws against murder but that does not guarantee that there will be no murder. What is important is that there is an environment from both a policy point and a legal point of view is the capacity to bring down violence.

HUNTER-GAULT: What is your comment on the statement by the military leaders and the minister of defence who say that the services of this country could not support any person who had not served in the liberation movement for a free Zimbabwe?

MOYO: They are stating a certain truth with which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would have said about themselves, that those who did not participate in the American Revolution would not be acceptable to those who had not participated. This is a truth. You are more than two centuries away from the actual individuals who fought for the liberation of the U.S., but we are only 22 years away from it and the people who fought are here.

It would be a mockery to them and to the cause they fought for if they suddenly were made to salute one of the people they fought against. It's a fiction of democracy that you can have as fundamental a war of liberation as we had so that the very same people you were fighting can rule you. No. We don't expect the Jews to salute the Nazis.

HUNTER-GAULT: Some would argue that is sanctioning coup d'etat.

MOYO: Well, You know people can read whatever they want in it, but there must be a difference between the fiction of democracy and the substance of democracy. We should not demean the African struggles for liberation by using the fiction of democracy.

HUNTER-GAULT: Thank you Jonathan Moyo.