Zimbabwe: Defamation No Longer Criminal

The Constitutional Court has removed from the statutes Section 31 (a) (iii) of theCriminal Law (Codification and Reform Act), which criminalised defamation. This means defamation is no longer a criminal offence.


In a judgment by Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba, the section was dismissed as unjustifiable in a democratic society. The court ruled that the law was in breach of freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Herarld