BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

A leading media freedom lobby group says it is concerned about the safety of Zimbabwean journalists as the country heads to the crucial 2023 elections following a spike in cases of media workers being attacked while doing their work last year.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe chapter said 37 journalists were attacked while doing their work last year compared to 32 in 2018 when the country held its last major election.

Zimbabwe held by-elections on March 26 last year to fill 28 vacant parliamentary seats and 112 local government positions in polls marred by violence in some areas.

Tabani Moyo, the Misa Zimbabwe director, told VicFallsLive on the sidelines of the United Nations Regional workshop on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information, and the Safety of Journalists for in Africa held in the resort city recently that they were worried about the rising cases of attacks against journalists.

“In 2018 we recorded 32 cases in the election season and in 2022 we recorded 37 cases, which is a worrying trend because this is a pre-election season,” Moyo said.

“So for us we believe that there is need for a multi-stakeholder approach and that is why as Misa we have gone to all 10 provinces with police high command in what we call the police media action plan to sensitise the police on how the media works and the journalists on how to relate with the police during the electoral season.”

He said the recent reaction by some government officials to the coverage of the Al Jazeera documentary exposing alleged money laundering and gold smuggling by politically exposed people in Zimbabwe showed that threats to media freedom still existed.

Media organisations recently petitioned Parliament after President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba threatened journalists with arrests for covering the documentary titled: The Gold Mafia.

Moyo said the interactions with the police were important given the situation in the country.

“This to us is key and you realise that only recently after the release of the  Gold Mafia, journalists were actually threatened by one of the senior civil servants, who speaks on behalf of the president,” Moyo said.

“Under the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe we wrote to Parliament and petitioned government to put a leash on the part of their senior civil servants so that we are protected when we are doing our work.

“And on that note, we say that journalists should always use a shield of ethical reporting to cover them during elections.”

The Misa Zimbabwe director also urged journalists to be ethical during the election season and avoid being partisan, citing cases of some that have contested internal elections for political parties in previous polls.

“We also want to warn journalists to avoid this habit of indecision that in one moment they want to participate in primary elections for political parties and when they do not make it they go back to the newsroom,” he said.

“To us it presents an ethical dilemma.”

Information minister Monica Mutsvanga told the same conference that the government will prioritise the safety of journalists during the elections.

“Once any violations against journalists are reported, the government will investigate such specific issues and prosecution will be supported,” Mutsvanga said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he will announce the date for this year’s elections at the end of next month.