25. It is important to note that in many cases, the prosecutions before the courts have been unsuccessful, and the Constitutional Court has ruled that the provisions used contravene the constitutional freedom of a person to express themselves. However, censorship remains, and has had a chilling effect on the ability of artists to develop material on political and civic affairs due to the risk of action being taken against them by the State. 26. According to artists interviewed for this report, the police intimidate or harass artists from expressing dissent on social, economic and political concerns of citizens. The use of criminal law to censor art has resulted in significant self-censorship by many artists. 27. Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act establishes the offence of “criminal defamation”. The section establishes that any person who publishes a false statement about another person, intentionally or with the likelihood that their reputation would be injured, will be guilty of criminal defamation and liable to a fine and imprisonment for a period of up to two years. 28. The Constitutional Court in 2016 ruled that Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act was unconstitutional, as it did not comply with the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of media, as well as access to information, protected in Sections 61 and 62 of the constitution. The ruling came in relation to an application filed in 2015 by MISA (The Media Institute of Southern Africa) Zimbabwe. Supportive example: 29. In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on artist Owen Maseko’s installations that were originally removed in 2010 from the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. Maseko's exhibition consisted of various artistic expressions depicting mass atrocities committed by government forces in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Maseko was subsequently arrested by Central Intelligence Officers and detained for six days in Bulawayo’s Central Police Station. The State used sections 31 and 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act to prosecute the artist for staging the exhibition. 30. “Writers have resorted to social themes, such as domestic violence and religion, for fear of being labelled anti-government if they chose topics, such as politically motivated human rights violations, corruption by high ranking government or public officials, and police brutality, given the politically charged environment currently obtaining in Zimbabwe,” according to Beaven Tapureta from Writers International Zimbabwe. THE BROADCASTING SERVICES ACT General statement: 33. The Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) is being used to maintain a state monopoly of the airwaves. The Act establishes a Broadcasting Authority whose function, among others, is “to encourage diversity in the control of broadcasting services” and “preservation of the national security and integrity of Zimbabwe”. 10 10 Broadcasting Services Act 2001 Section 3, http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/zw/zw036en.pdf 6