JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 53 ____________________________________________________________________ any of the provisions of [the] Act”.98 About thirteen journalists have so far been charged with “publishing falsehoods” since this Act came into operation. All of these journalists work for the private press. No journalist working for the governmentcontrolled media has been charged with this offence. Several of the journalists who have been charged for committing this offence have challenged the constitutionality of this provision, arguing that it violates the fundamental right to freedom of expression. In addition to all these controls, the Media and Information Commission has power to develop a code of conduct for journalists and to punish journalists who fail to comply with the code. Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister who devised these myriad controls and plays a key part in their implementation, has openly expressed his hostility towards the private media in Zimbabwe and has verbally attacked foreign correspondents and labelled some of them “terrorists”. Public Order and Security Act This Act contains several provisions which inhibit freedom of expression, in particular free political debate. A person can be sent to prison for up to five years for communicating to others a false statement intending to undermine public confidence in a law enforcement agency, the Prison Service or the Defence Forces or intending to affect adversely the defence or economic interests of Zimbabwe. 99 A person can be subjected to the same punishment for communicating a false statement even if he did not intend those consequences, but realised that there was a risk or possibility that they would occur. And if those consequences do in fact occur as a result of a person’s publishing a statement which he knows is false or does not have reasonable grounds for believing to be true, he can be punished even if he neither intended the consequences nor realised there was any risk or possibility of their occurring.100 The “chilling” effect this provision of the Act will have on free speech is obvious. For example, a newspaper editor who publishes a report alleging that prison officers are inadequately trained must realise that his report