As the world commemorates the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on 2 November, MISA Zimbabwe is greatly concerned with the upsurge in the number of cases involving media freedom violations in Zimbabwe.
Media freedom monitoring
Journalist violently caught in police dragnet
On the afternoon of 29 October, Zimbabwe Republic Police officers beat up and detained freelance journalist Philemon Jambaya. The wrongful arrest took place as part of a joint ZRP and Harare municipality police operation in Harare’s Copacabana area that saw the arrest of vendors working in the area.
Local journalist harassed and briefly detained at State House
A video clip showing state security agents harassing local journalist Violet Gonda at State House in Harare on 29 October 2018 has gone viral on social media.
Another reporter assaulted for filming police operations
A plainclothes police officer assaulted Panashe Makufa a local journalist with online publication Mail & Telegraph on 18 October 2018 in Harare after asking why he was filming a police blitz against illegal foreign currency dealers.
Media barred from Commission’s hearings on post-election violence
MISA Zimbabwe’s letter of concern over the barring of private media from the Commission’s public hearings.
Police confiscate journalist’s press card
Police in Masvingo on 17 October 2018 threatened Godfrey Mutimba a journalist who writes for The Worker, a print publication run by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
Private media barred from covering Commission of Inquiry hearing
Private media journalists were today, 16 October barred from entering the Commission of Inquiry into the post-elections violence that took place on August 1, 2018 in Harare, which is scheduled to conduct public hearings at the Cresta Hotel, Msasa, Harare.
Police arrest suspects for torching AMH newspapers
Vendors selling the NewsDay and Zimbabwe Independent published by Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) were on 11 October 2018 attacked by some youths who went on to burn the newspapers in Harare’s central business district.
Regional Solidarity Statement: Embassy official detains journalists in eSwatini
An official at the Qatar Embassy in Mbabane temporarily detained two senior Swazi Times journalists on Friday 4 October 2018 in what can only be described as a blatant violation of media freedom rights.
Photojournalist assaulted in eSwatini
Protesting teachers on Friday 28 September assaulted journalist Mduduzi Mngomezulu as he covered protests in Mbabane, eSwatini.