Sanef calls for release of Zim

Zimbabwean Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono
Image sourced via Twitter @usembassyharare

Sanef calls for release of Zimbabwean journalist

The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has called on Zimbabwean police to put an end to its harassment of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who was arrested for a third time on Friday

Sanef calls for release of Zim

Zimbabwean Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono
Image sourced via Twitter @usembassyharare

The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has once again sounded the alarm on media freedom (or lack thereof) in Zimbabwe, particularly after journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested for the third time.

“Sanef also calls on Zimbabwe police to stop the relentless intimidation and harassment of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who was arrested for the third time on Friday 8th January 2021 for doing his job. We call for his unconditional and immediate release,” it said in a statement.

Chin’ono was one of several people who had demanded answers after a boy died, allegedly at the hands of police. Prior to his arrest on Friday, 8 January 2021, he tweeted: “They say they are charging me with communicating falsehoods for tweeting that a child had been beaten up and died by a police officer! They are taking me to the Law-and-order section at Harare Central Police Station.”

The editors’ group said in response, the police offered a different version of events in a statement.

Chin’ono first landed himself in trouble with the Zimbabwean government when he lifted the lid on corruption, in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE). He also took part in the series of demonstrations which started in July 2020, in which Zimbabweans took to the streets, demanding economic reform.

Chin’ono was arrested and accused of inciting violence, in the wake of those protests. Now in his latest apprehension, prosecutors claimed he should stay in jail, citing possible exposure to COVID-19. This after the 45-year-old journalist said he had interacted with two South Africans who have contracted the virus.

Attacks against female journalists in Zimbabwe

Sanef has also reiterated its concern surrounding the treatment of female journalists in Zimbabwe after the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front’s (ZANU-PF) Director of Information and Publicity, Tafadzwa Tuboy Mugwadi hurled insults towards an SABC editor for asking about President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s whereabouts as the country battles the pandemic.

“Sanef has sadly noted the blatant sexist and misogynistic vitriol directed from Mugwadi to SABC Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena in a bid to intimidate, harass and stop her from doing her job of reporting on Zimbabwe and the continent,” it further said.

The group has accused Mugwadi of intimidating, sowing disinformation and discrediting the integrity of news media outlets that report on Zimbabwe’s political and administrative crises.