this report, in 2014 the Law and Order Section of the Harare Central Police
Station banned the premiere of the short film Kumasowe, arguing that the film
was too sensitive to the police. The meeting to censor the film took place in a
police station in the office of one of the Censorship Board members. This was a
case of a single board member unilaterally executing the function of the whole
Board notwithstanding that he was not the chair of the Board. The police
simply ‘advised’ the author to approach the Censorship Board before he could
show his film, well aware that at the time the Censorship Board was
dysfunctional and that the screening had been scheduled for the following day.
Prior to the enactment of the 2013 Constitution, many media practitioners had
to litigate in order to be allowed to showcase their artistic material. Since 2011
human rights organisations in the area of governance and human rights have
interdicted the police from interfering with the staging of many short films,
which would have been approved by the Censorship Board. Hence as it stands,
the most effective remedy to circumvent the police has been the use of the
avenue of litigation.
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