The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Right of Access to Information Conundrums in Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-135
Author(s):  
Eventhough Ndlovu ◽  
Hlengiwe Dube
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Language Rights ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access

The end of year 2019 saw the outbreak of a global pandemic, COVID-19 which is caused by the deadly and novel coronavirus. Zimbabwe was second in Southern Africa to declare a national lockdown and adopted measures such as surveillance, testing and contact tracing to fight and contain the virus. Efforts to fight and contain the pandemic globally led to intensified efforts of information dissemination in various languages and forms of communication. Against this background, this article examines the right of access to information conundrums during the COVID-19 pandemic with particular reference to ethnic minority language speakers, the visually impaired, the Deaf and hard of hearing in Zimbabwe. Data from document analysis of the statutory instruments regulating access to information, language rights and the right to healthcare, observations of the actual practice in as far as information dissemination on the pandemic was concerned and semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled participants showed that in Zimbabwe, the right of access to critical information on the pandemic was not evenly enjoyed, a problem which had a bearing on the right to healthcare and language rights. Some sections of the Zimbabwean society, especially ethnic minority language speakers and persons with disabilities endured information blackouts due to lack of access to information on the pandemic in the languages that they understand and in forms of communication suitable for persons with disabilities. These findings point to the dire need of an explicit information dissemination language policy which takes into account the language preferences of the people affected by governmental communication or measures.

scholarly journals Enabling the enabler: Using access to information to ensure the right to peaceful protest

2017 ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsangadzaome Alexander Mukumba ◽  
Imraan Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
Responsible Person

The Regulation of Gatherings Act (RGA) places strict guidelines on how to exercise the right to protest, with particular emphasis on the submission of a notice of gathering to the responsible person within a municipality in terms of sections 2(4) and 3 of the Act. However, municipalities do not proactively make the notice of gathering templates available for public use (or may not have these at all), and often do not publicise the details of the designated responsible person. To test municipalities’ compliance with the RGA, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) enlisted the help of the South African History Archive (SAHA) to submit a series of Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) requests to every municipality in South Africa. PAIA requests were also submitted to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for records relating to public order policing. The initiative aimed to provide these templates and related documents to interested parties as an open source resource on the protestinfo.org.za website. The results of these efforts show that compliance with the RGA is uneven. This article explores the flaws in the regulatory environment that have led to this level of apathy within government, despite the crucial role of the right to protest and the right of access to information as enabling rights in our constitutional democracy. An analysis of the full PAIA request dataset shows the extent of government’s resistance to facilitating these enabling rights, and provides insights into remedial interventions. The article concludes with a series of recommendations, which centre on statutory reforms to the RGA and PAIA to ensure appropriate sanction for non-compliance by government, proactive disclosure of relevant information, and emergency provisions allowing curtailed procedural requirements. The intention of the proposed amendments is to minimise the possibility that these fundamental, enabling rights might be frustrated.

scholarly journals Socio-Religiuos Model of Disability: Sebuah Rancangan Awal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Zanuar Mubin ◽  
Masykur Rozi
Keyword(s):  
Disability Studies ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Disability Discrimination ◽  
Islamic Science ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Access Right ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
Islamic Society

Studi disabilitas masih menjadi tema kecil dalam ilmu pengetahuan Islam. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa ilmu pengetahuan Islam tidak memiliki misi untuk mengatasi permasalahan diskriminasi yang dialami penyandang disabilitas. Hal ini mengakibatkan penyandang disabilitas dikucilkan bahkan dalam komunitas Muslim. Kami mengidentifikasi bahwa kurangnya akses yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat Muslim disebabkan oleh kurangnya ilmu- ilmu keislaman dalam mendorong mereka untuk berperilaku secara inklusif. Artikel ini mencoba menawarkan model sosio-religius dalam mengentaskan diskriminasi disabilitas dengan dua level metodologis. Level pertama adalah mengkritisi epistemologi hukum Islam untuk mendobrak bias normalitas yang berakibat pada tidak diangkatnya masalah disabilitas sebagai tema dalam hukum Islam. Pada level kedua dilanjutkan dengan menginternalisasi filosofi model disabilitas sosial pada ahliyyah dan maqasid, sehingga epistemologi hukum Islam memiliki gagasan inklusi. Hasil penelitian ini adalah bahwa hak akses dijamin oleh ahliyah al-wujub, dan strategi pemenuhan hak akses diatur dalam teori maqasid. Metode ini menghasilkan konsep hukum Islam praktis yang dapat dijadikan dasar untuk membentuk masyarakat Islam yang inklusif.[Disability studies are still a minor theme in the Islamic science. This indicates that Islamic science does not have a mission to alleviate discrimination problems experienced by persons with disabilities. This results in disability being excluded even in Muslims’ community. We identified that lack of access performed by Muslims society is caused by lack of Islamic sciences in encouraging them to conduct inclusively. This article seeks to offer a socio-religious model in alleviating disability discrimination with two methodological levels. The first level is crticizing epistemology of Islamic law to break down the bias of normality which results in the lack of appointment of disability problems as themes in Islamic law. At the second level is continued by internalizing social-disability model philosophy in ahliyyah and maqa>s}id, so that the epistemology of Islamic law has the idea of inclusion. The results of this study are that the right of access is guaranted by ahliyah al-wuju>b, and strategy of fulfilling access right is regulated in light of maqa>s}id theory. This method fruits the concept of practical Islamic law which can be used as a basis for forming an inclusive Islamic society.]

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