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Journalists ecstatic over striking off of criminal defamation

by Thobekile Zhou
03 Feb 2016 at 12:56hrs | Views
The Constitutional Court has today struck off  the controversial criminal defamation  clause from the legal statutes sparking excitement from the media fraternity.

In  July 2014, the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act must be struck off the statutes because it was not a justifiable law in a democratic society like Zimbabwe.

When details of the ruling filtered through this morning media house and journalists took to social media platforms to express their joy.

Below are some of the posts seen by Bulawayo24.com

MisaZimbabwe posted - BREAKING NEWS: ConCourt strikes down criminal defamation from our statutes.

Brezh Malaba ‏@BrezhMalaba   said -Delighted that criminal defamation finally struck down by Constitutional Court.My civil liberties were violated using this primitive law.

Journalist Kumbirai Mafunda said -Chairman batai ngoma kwatabva zvinhu zvakangooma, ahunde ahunde...Congrats Team MISA Zimbabwe members, Zim journos and our Secretariat for securing today's judgment on criminal defamation. You are on the right path. Great day for us in Zimbabwe. You have worked so hard for this. Bhora mberi. MISA yepamoyo.

Nhlanhla Ngwenya @SitshelaN:   said A pleasant day for the Zim media. Criminal Defamation has been struck off. ‪#‎otherlawsmustfalltoo

Nqaba Matshazi @nqabamatshazi: The constitutional court has just struck off criminal defamation of the statutes, invalid by both the new and old constitutions

Source - Byo24News