A high court Judge in Harare ruled this afternoon that the Minister of State in the Presidents office for National Security, Owen Ncube, does not have the authority to issue any orders to shut down the internet. This makes the orders he issued last week illegal.
MISA Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights challenged the internet and social media blockade at the high court following last week’s orders by government.
Said MISA after the ruling:
The court has ruled that Minister of State does not have the authority to issue any directives. This means that the directives to shutdown the Internet are now reversed! The court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Interception of Communications Act today.
MISA was represented by Advocate Matinenga.
On Tuesday 15 January 2019, Ncube issued ordes to internet providers in Zimbabwe to block access, first to social media apps, and then eventually to the rest of the internet. The internet was eventually opened up 30 hours later, blocked again a day later for about 15 hours, then opened again. Social media access however has remained blocked to date.
Related:
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Blocking Internet And Cracking Down On Civil Society Not The Way To Restore Calm: The Elders Tell Mnangagwa Govt
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Mnangagwa Spokesperson George Charamba Says Internet Was Blocked To Protect Society
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You’d Be A Fool To Invest In A Country That Denies Its Citizens The Internet – Rob Rose (Editor Financial Mail)
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Watch: Gov Minister, Energy Mutodi, Lies About Internet Blockade in Zimbabwe
More: MISA Zimbabwe on Twitter
The Internet is on, but social media remains blocked. So Court Rulings are ignored. All talk, that’s all.
Chiwenga is THE cancer on Zim. Chiwenga is THE manifestation of evil (after Mugabe, of course). This idiot Chiwenga has ALL the ingredients to make evil:
– he is mildly retarded (yes, clinically on the spectrum)
– he is suicidal and brutal. Ask how he has personally tortured people.
– he believes the country owes him because he served and then toppled Mugabe
– he has NO moral or ethical likes – a total shitface inside and out.
Ged rid of this Chiwenga demon, and it will go 70% to solving the problems.
You see to be educated, learnade and grammatical are values which when they stand apart [having lost resonance – denoting literally lack of wisdom] you inherently witness grossly defective directives as closure of the internet, social media platforms, [ignorance of local, regional, continental and global conventions] for by virtue of old age older generation flavored defective and discordant decisions are being taken for the younger generation which has been mercilessly bashed on the ground.