| FILE – In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 file photo, protestors gather near a burning tire during a demonstration over the hike in fuel prices in Harare, Zimbabwe.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File) |
Zimbabwe’s High Court ruled on Monday that the security minister had no authority to order mobile operators to shut down internet access to customers during protests last week and that the firms should immediately restore unrestricted access.
Judge Owen Tagu made the ruling as legal challenges began to a brutal clampdown on dissent by the government. Fears the country is veering back towards authoritarian rule have driven some leaders of the main opposition party into hiding.
“It has become very clear that the minister has no authority to make the directive,” Tagu said in his ruling, ordering mobile operators to “to unconditionally resume the provision of full and unrestricted services to all subscribers forthwith”.
Critics had accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of shutting off the internet to prevent evidence of its heavy handedness being broadcast to the world.