THIS week, Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba went on trial, facing charges of “insulting or undermining the President” over content published in the satirical Muckraker column. The case has heightened concern within media circles about the shrinking space for critical journalism. Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), represented by editor–in-chief, Kholwani Nyathi, was also charged, together with Zaba. Another senior AMH journalist, head of Heart and Soul Television (HSTv), Blessing Mhlanga, is expected in court on December 8. He is accused of “inciting violence” for allegedly broadcasting a video statement by war veteran Blessed Geza calling for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s immediate resignation. HSTv has also been charged in connection with the same video.Zaba faces up to one year in prison, a fine, or both if convicted under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. Mhlanga, on the other hand, could be jailed for up to five years and fined as much as US$700 under the 2021 Cyber and Data Protection Act. Below is an article published by GroundUp last month, expressing concerns over developments in Zimbabwe:
Following arrests and draconian legislation, editors are self-censoring to protect their organisations.
Journalism is increasingly treated as a crime in Zimbabwe. State surveillance, arrests and detentions have created a climate of fear in newsrooms, and a new law will bring investigative journalism under direct state control. This is likely to make donor funding, vital to sustaining journalism, much more difficult to secure.
This year, the Zimbabwean government has arrested and charged several high-profile journalists, including Zaba, Mhlanga, as well as Nyathi.
Police arrested Mhlanga after his interview with Blessed Geza, who accused Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa of corruption and urged him to step down. Mhlanga spent 72 days in pre-trial detention, where he was ill-treated by the police. The trial is ongoing.
In July, the Mnangagwa administration arrested Zaba on “insult” charges for publishing a satirical political column on Mnangagwa’s tenure as the chair person of the Southern African Development Community. Accused of undermining the authority of or insulting the country’s President, Zaba was detained for three nights despite being ill and having handed herself over. Her arrest attracted widespread condemnation by journalists and Amnesty International.
Nyathi, the editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe’s largest private media company, Alpha Media Holdings, which runs the Independent and HSTV, was charged jointly with Zaba. The pair’s trial was scheduled to begin on October 31 in Harare, but was postponed to November 19 and 20.
Last year, The NewsHawks was forced to drop an investigation into housing corruption in the military after pressure from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the government.
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Amid increased surveillance, the journalist investigating the matter had to relocate his family. The army and Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, George Charamba, admitted a military investigation was underway, but warned the media house not to report on the issue, as it was a matter of national security.
The army said it would issue a public statement once its investigation was complete, but is yet to do so.
Zimbabwe’s Bill of Rights may guarantee media freedom, but journalists face the risk of arrest, prosecution, or other forms of harassment. Chris Mhike, a lawyer who is representing Zaba and Mhlanga, says this is because Zimbabwe has “too many statutes” that are at odds with the constitution, including several provisions in the Criminal Law Code, which pose a serious threat to press freedom. For example, a number of people have been prosecuted for allegedly undermining the authority of, or insulting the President.
Mhike adds: “A raft of other media laws has worsened the situation by maintaining in our operating environment, a significant degree of fear and the apprehension of getting into trouble with the law. Even those journalists who have yet to fall victim to the harshness of our media laws often censor themselves as a measure of avoiding law-related problems.”
The Interception of Communication Act is another tool the state uses for its media crackdown. It gives state security agencies broad powers to intercept phone calls and online communication. Knowing the state can easily monitor their calls, many journalists stop pursuing stories as they fear arrest. The process of challenging the validity of these laws is laborious and prohibitively expensive,” says Mhike, who adds that journalists are often subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention. This was the case with Mhlanga and Hopewell Chin’ono.
“This usually serves as a reminder to all other journalists that criticism of the status quo, or any association with dissenters, can easily seriously harm the messenger (the journalist),” he said.
Other laws used to restrict journalism include the Cybersecurity and Data Protection Act (2021), which is meant to regulate data and online crime.
It allows authorities to get subscriber data from telecoms companies with little oversight. It also criminalises the sharing of any information deemed to be “false”, which can be used to criminalise routine reporting.
The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Act (2023) goes further, making it a crime to “wilfully injure the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe”, which is broad enough to apply to critical journalism.
Recent changes to the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Act will introduce a new regime for the way non-profit journalism must operate. Public interest and watchdog media outfits in Zimbabwe operate as non-profit organisations and receive grant funding from international partners.
They must now register as PVOs in accordance with strict regulations, or face criminal prosecution.
To get registered as a PVO, the state must first interview and approve an organisation’s board members. If any PVO’s work is deemed not to be in the national interest, the state can replace board members, seize the company’s assets or simply shut it down.
“That situation naturally leads to the loss of the autonomy that many press freedom advocacy groups and not-for-profit watchdog journalism media organisations previously enjoyed,” Mhike says.
“Dozens of freelance journalists who used to rely on the resources of independent pro-media Trusts suddenly find themselves heavily constrained under the new legislative framework.”
Njabulo Ncube, coordinator of the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef), says, “(The PVO Act) allows the state to do surveillance on citizens, which is unhealthy in a democracy.”
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary general Perfect Hlongwane says regulatory constraints are hindering investigative journalism, particularly the exposure of corruption.
“Licencing and accreditation is also another way they use to control journalists,” Hlongwane says, adding journalists are already self-censoring.
Despite a 2014 Constitutional Court ruling invalidating criminal defamation, journalists continue to face prosecution under broadly framed “false news” clauses for “communicating falsehoods” or inciting public violence, as was the case with Chin’ono in 2020.
Nigel Nyamutumbu, coordinator of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, an alliance of media support organisations, says although Zimbabwe has some progressive laws, including the recognition of freedom of expression or media freedom, it has many clawback clauses which are being used to criminalise journalism.
“We have structural issues of a political nature that need to be addressed and that point to a shrinking space and regression in the democratic discourse of the country,” says Nyamutumbu.
l This story was produced by the IJHUB network for GroundUp.
l The writer’s name has been withheld for their safety.
