Right to privacy increasingly under threat
THE right to privacy in Zimbabwe is increasingly under threat following remarks by President Emmerson Mnangagwa that the government had managed to track the locations of certain individuals and their communication details.
This comes on the backdrop of an earlier statement by Army Commander Lieutenant-General Edzai Chimonyo that the army would start snooping into private communications between citizens to “guard against subversion” as the use of social media poses a threat to national security.
The right to privacy is provided for under section 57 of the Constitution. The Constitution provides that every person has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have:
• their home, premises or property entered without their permission;
• their person, home, premises or property searched;
• their possessions seized;
• the privacy of their communication infringed; or,
• their health condition disclosed.
The right to privacy is very critical because it is an enabling right that allows for the exercise of media freedom and freedom of expression. It is in that context that the confidentiality of media sources is key and equally protected by the Constitution.
Similarly, the protection of whistleblowers is also very important for the purposes of fostering transparency and accountability. Unjustified infringements to the right to privacy result in self-censorship as citizens will be afraid to communicate freely, fearing that their communications will be availed to third parties.
It should also be noted that Section 86 of the Constitution states that fundamental rights and freedoms may be limited only in terms of a law of general application, and to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity and freedom.
Misa Zimbabwe is concerned by what seems to be targeted surveillance of critics of the government and dissenting voices. This is a grave departure from the letter and spirit of the Constitution which calls on the State and all institutions and administrative authorities to respect, protect and promote the Declaration of Rights as set out in the Constitution.
Principle 41 of the recently launched Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, provides as follows:
• States shall not engage in or condone acts of indiscriminate and untargeted collection, storage, analysis or sharing of a person’s communications.
• States shall ensure that any law authorising targeted communication surveillance provides adequate safeguards for the right to privacy, including:
• the prior authorisation of an independent and impartial judicial authority;
• due process safeguards;
• specific limitation on the time, manner, place and scope of the surveillance.