Today, 11 December, the Zimbabwe Republic Police officers assaulted and briefly detained Hubert Sithole and Panashe Makuta. Sithole and Makuta are reporter and photojournalists with online publication Mail and Telegraph respectively.
News
Digest: Media issues in the 2019 National Budget
This short write-up adds to that body of literature by outlining how the same national budget will affect the areas of media, broadcasting and digital rights.
Letter to Speaker of National Assembly: Increase in collection of personal information in the absence of adequate data privacy legislation
MISA Zimbabwe writes to you to express its concern over the rise in the local use of surveillance technology and equipment in the absence of adequate and clear data privacy legislation.
Journalist assaulted for recording clashes between MPs and Police
A freelance journalist, Nyasha Mukapiko with online publication Open Parly Zimbabwe, was assaulted and harassed on the afternoon of 22 November 2018.
Media rights defenders detained under unclear circumstances
MISA Zimbabwe joins the international community in condemning the overnight detention of Angela Quintal, Africa programme coordinator with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and its sub- Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo.
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.
Government to prioritise media law reforms
The government says it will prioritise the alignment of all media laws with the constitution during the coming year, Nick Mangwana, the secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting has said.
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.
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