MISA decries ruthless attacks on journalists in East and Southern Africa
By Agencies
AUTHORITIES across East and Southern Africa have continued to supress press freedom, attacking journalists while they carry out their duties, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and Amnesty International have said.
In a statement marking the World Press Freedom Day commemorated on May 3, the two organisations expressed concern over the criminalisation of journalism.
“There has been a worrying trend of attacks, harassment, intimidation and the criminalization of journalism across East and Southern Africa demonstrating the length to which authorities are prepared to go to silence the media for exposing allegations of corruption and human rights violations,” Amnesty International director for East and Southern Africa Tigere Chagutah said.
“Journalists hold up a mirror to society. Targeting them simply for doing their work sends a wrong message that States are not prepared to uphold their human rights obligations and to be held accountable,” MISA regional director Tabani Moyo added.
In Zimbabwe, the introduction of the new Cyber and Data Protection Act, which was enacted in December 2021, has been used to intimidate and harass journalists for doing their work and threatens to curtail media freedom further.
Recently, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba threatened journalists over coverage of the Aljazeera ‘Gold Mafia’ documentary which exposed gold smuggling and money laundering by highly connected individuals.
Between August and September last year, three journalists became the first people to be arrested under the Cyber and Data Protection Act enacted in December 2021.
Wisdom Mdzungairi, who was the editor-in-chief of Alpha Media Holdings and the editor of NewsDay newspaper, and Desmond Chingarande, a senior reporter at NewsDay, were summoned to Harare Central Police Station in August 2022.
They were questioned in connection with a story they had published on a business enterprise believed to be run by individuals with connections to the government.
The two were charged with transmitting “false data intending to cause harm” and released only after their lawyer assured officers that they would be available for further questioning when required.
On September 29 2022, a freelance sports journalist, Hope Chizuzu, was arrested under the same law after board members of the Dynamos Football Club filed a complaint against him for reporting on the club.
Chizuzu’s mobile phone and iPad were confiscated and kept by the police for “further investigations”.
He was released the same day after police issued him with a warning and told him that he would be summoned to appear in court.
