Judge in Daily News case recuses himself

In a dramatic turn of events the judge who was supposed to hear the application by The Daily News for permission to continue publishing recused himself on Tuesday. Judge Michael Majuru was prompted to do so by the publication of a story in the official Herald newspaper, in which he was accused of having told unidentified people that he would rule in favour of the independent newspaper. Majuru was expected to hear the case on Tuesday, but told stunned journalists and employees of The Daily News when he arrived at the Administrative Court that he had been forced to recuse himself after the story was published. "In view of the story that was published by The Herald, I have no option but to recuse myself," he said. The Daily News is Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, shut down by the authorities because it was not registered with the state-appointed media commission. The police first closed the newspaper and seized equipment on 12 September, after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the paper's challenge to the constitutionality of the registration process. The court ordered the company to register before hearing its case. Last month, when the newspaper was denied a license to operate, it took its case to the Administrative Court, which has similar powers to the High Court. Majuru ruled in favour of the newspaper's publisher, the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). In that earlier ruling, Majuru gave the government-appointed Media and Information Commission, (MIC) until 30 November to register the newspaper, or the court would deem it to have been registered. He also declared that the MIC was improperly constituted, because it did not have a representative from an association of publishers, as required by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).