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Zimbabwe’s Press Freedom, One Step Forward, Three Steps Back – Global Issues

Journalist Jeffery Moyo, with his lawyer, Doug Coltart, outside the Magistrates' Court, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.  Moyo faces charges of violating Section 36 of the Immigration Act.  His sentencing date is scheduled for May 31, 2022. Source: Busani Bafana/IPS
Journalist Jeffery Moyo, with his lawyer, Doug Coltart, outside the Magistrates’ Court, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Moyo faces charges of violating Section 36 of the Immigration Act. His sentencing date is scheduled for May 31, 2022. Source: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo, zimbabwe)
  • Joint press service

“Journalism is a crime in Zimbabwe and the regime is responding to independent journalism,” said Moyo, international correspondent for the New York Times and Inter Press Service (IPS).

Criminalization of journalism

Moyo (37) has been charged with violating Section 36 of the Immigration Act, based on allegations he falsely represented immigration officials. This relates to allegations he received communications certifications for two of his colleagues, Christina Goldbaum and Joao Silva, from the New York Times. He faces 10 years in prison if found guilty of violating the Zimbabwe Immigration Act by helping two American journalists work in the country.

Arrested in May 2021 and held for 21 days at Bulawayo Prison before being released, Moyo was initially denied bail citing a threat to national security.

“I’m living in perpetual fear because I don’t know the regime is conspiring against me,” Moyo told IPS in an interview before appearing in court in Bulawayo. “If you are an independent journalist in Zimbabwe you should always keep an eye on your back as someone may be following you with the intention of harming you for your work.”

Moyo lamented that his year-long court trial meant he had less productive time to do his job, which meant a loss of income.

“Any mode that plans itself this way has skeletons in its closet. I fear they might harm me at a time when the world will forget about me because this is a regime that always sees darkness everywhere around it,” added Moyo.

The journalist’s trial resumed at Bulawayo Magistrates Court last week after the State rejected his motion to dismiss his case earlier this year. The trial begins the week the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day.

Moyo was charged with a partial violation of the Immigration Act and that he produced fake media recognition cards for New York Times journalists. The defense filed a motion to dismiss the claim, noting that Bang’s case against Moyo was “grounded in dubious grounds”, but Judge Bulawayo ruled that Bang had sufficient evidence against Moyo. The court sought to question Moyo, and he chose to remain silent.

Moyo’s attorney, Beatrice Mtetwa, told the court that her client chose to remain silent because the Judge found that the recognition card was forged without mentioning any evidence to make the application for severance. waste.

Mtetwa commented that whether Moyo testified or not, the Judge decided that the identification card that Moyo allegedly obtained for the two foreign journalists was fake and wanted Moyo to implicate himself – which is against the law.

“He has no right to testify, and the Constitution says you have the right to remain silent and even attempting to question someone who has said ‘I want to remain silent’ is, to me, a big deal. do in vain. If he wants to find him guilty, let him find him guilty based on the evidence presented by the State, which in his judgment (the Judge) completely ignored,” Mtetwa told IPS.

Moyo has pleaded not guilty and he will be sentenced on May 31, 2022.

Zimbabwe has explicitly enshrined a freedom of the press in its Constitution, but media advocacy groups say freedom is not guaranteed.

The media rights advocacy group, the Media Institute of South Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe, recorded at least 27 violations in 2021, down from 52 a year earlier.

Tabani Moyo, Executive Director of MISA Zimbabwe, said: “When the Constitution is violated, especially by the police, who are supposed to enforce the law, it is a challenge… to uphold the constitution. . He added that ongoing consultation with law enforcement agencies in Zimbabwe is needed to devise possible interventions to prevent harassment by journalists.

More rhetoric, less reform

Despite the government’s commitment to promoting press freedom and freedom of expression, the continued harassment and criticism of journalists by critics tells a different story.

The arsenal of punitive laws that restrict fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association is more oppressive than the freedoms espoused by the Zimbabwean government.

For example, Zimbabwe repealed the draconian Access and Privacy Act (AIPPA). However, journalists are still subjected to harassment and intimidation, casting a shadow over the Zimbabwean government’s commitment to free speech.

“We no longer have serious cases where journalists have been harassed, beaten or killed in this country. What we have is a strong exchange of opinions with journalists,” Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Television, Kindness Paradza, said on World Press Freedom Day. celebrate event in Bulawayo last week.

“There is a lot to celebrate in Zimbabwe because we got rid of AIPPA, a bad law. Instead, we brought in the Freedom of Information Act, the Zimbabwe Communications Commission Act,” said Mr. Paradza. He added that the Zimbabwe Media Practitioners Bill is also on the card.

Freedom of the World Press Table of contents note that there has been an expansion of the media landscape in African countries such as Angola, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, which fell seven points in the Index ranking from 130 in 2021 to 137 in 2022.

“The media situation in Zimbabwe has improved slightly since dictator Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017. Access to information has increased, and self-censorship has decreased,” the Index commented in an analysis of the Zimbabwean press.

The index notes that although levels of violence against journalists have dropped significantly under the Mnangagwa government, they remain alarmingly high and self-censorship is carried out regularly to avoid retaliation.

“Intimidation, verbal attacks and intimidation (especially on social media) are still common practices. Cases of journalists being jailed and prosecuted however are now rarer now, the most notable case being Hopewell Chin’ono, an investigative journalist who spent almost a month and a half in jail in 2020, “according to Lndex World Press Freedom.

The extremely harsh laws are still in effect, and when new laws are passed, their provisions are just as draconian as those that have replaced them, Index noted, citing the revised penal code, the Act. The new Official Secrets and Data and Cybersecurity Act Protection Act continues to influence the press in Zimbabwe.

Commenting on press freedom in Zimbabwe, Mtetwa said the government pointed right but turned left. She explained that what the government says about complying with the good of the law and being seen as adhering to international best practices is different from what is actually happening.

“We had a lot of journalists arrested during the second republic. Why is this happening? They are abusing the criminal justice system to harass journalists,” Mtetwa told IPS.

“They arrest you and look for something in the criminal law, knowing that there is no case. You’ve seen the Hopewell Chin’ono cases,” she said. Two of the cases against Chin’ono have been dismissed, but one is still awaiting trial. He denies the allegations.


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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service

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