Information disorders, including misinformation and disinformation, pollute information ecosystems, undermine public trust, fuel polarisation, and threaten social cohesion.
This year’s International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) theme: Upholding Information Integrity in the Digital Age: The role of access to information in addressing information disorder, is therefore timely and apt in addressing the scourge of misinformation and disinformation.
IDUAI affirms that the right to seek, receive and impart information is a fundamental human right and a foundation for democracy, good governance and sustainable development.
This right is guaranteed in Section 62 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution and the Freedom of Information Act.
Compliance with this right depends on its implementation and exercise through proactive information disclosures by public institutions in line with the Act and its Freedom of Information (General) Regulations.
In the digital age, access to information and information integrity are inseparable.
The Zimbabwe National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2026 – 2030) presents an opportunity for the country to move beyond being a consumer of technologies developed elsewhere and to build greater domestic capacity in AI.
Achieving this requires more than simply encouraging the adoption of AI.
In the digital era, traditional paper-based archiving is no longer sufficient to meet the public’s demand for transparency.
The question is whether Zimbabwe has the capacity to understand, scrutinise, regulate, and shape the technologies it adopts.
As the world shifts towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital governance, a new inequality is emerging in the form of high data costs and limited digital literacy, particularly in rural areas and among women and persons with disabilities.
For this group, the right to information remains theoretical. The unchecked use of AI to spread misinformation further threatens the integrity of information.
When citizens cannot easily access verified public data, speculative narratives and malicious fabrications quickly fill the void, leaving individuals vulnerable to manipulation and undermining democratic processes.
The most effective antidote to this chaos is the systematic, proactive publication of timely, accurate, and reliable official information. Governments must move from reactive transparency to proactive disclosure, making public data fundamentally accessible by design and shifting the burden from citizens to the State.
The right of access to credible and accurate information remains the ultimate remedy to the proliferation of fake news, hate speech, and digital manipulation.
This can be achieved by strengthening trust in credible information sources, public institutions, and public-interest and explanatory journalism. Media and digital literacy are therefore key, particularly in marginalised rural communities.
Information integrity should also encompass media sustainability as part of efforts to counter mis/disinformation and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).
Commendably, Zimbabwe is the only country in southern Africa with a Media and Information Literacy Strategy, but it has yet to be launched.
MISA Zimbabwe therefore calls on the Government to:
- Fully operationalise the Freedom of Information legislation in line with the Constitution and international standards to ensure citizens have access to credible, accurate, and easily verifiable information.
- Adopt proactive disclosure mechanisms by promptly and accurately publishing open-government data to halt the momentum of false narratives before they proliferate.
- Foster multi-stakeholder collaboration among government, civil society, media, academia, and the private sector to build resilient information environments to combat information disorder.
- Protect and promote media freedom and digital rights as essential pillars of access to information in the digital age.
MISA Zimbabwe reaffirms its commitment to working with all stakeholders to build inclusive knowledge societies in which every citizen can access, use, and share information freely and safely.
As we commemorate IDUAI, we call on all Zimbabweans to actively promote access to information and defend the integrity of our information ecosystem.
MISA Zimbabwe International Day for Universal Access to Information Statement
Passmore Kuzipa
Chairperson
MISA Zimbabwe
