BY OWN CORRESPONDENT
A journalist based in Matabeleland North’s Lupane area has been charged with cyberbullying for sharing a video of two women that were allegedly assaulting a teenager in public.
Thembelihle Mhlanga was on October 24, 2022 summoned to the Lupane police station where the police recorded his warned and cautioned statement on allegations of cyberbullying under the Cyber and Data Protection Act.
This follows a video clip which Mhlanga posted on his Facebook account on October 10, 2022.
According to Mhlanga he recorded a video of two women who were allegedly assaulting a ‘teenager’ in public, which he then posted on his social media account.
He said the police said they would advise him on when he will be appearing in court.
Lawyer, Nqobani Sithole, deployed by Misa Zimbabwe, confirmed that the warned and cautioned statement had been recorded.
Several journalists have been charged under the Cyber and Data Protection Act, which free media activists say is being used by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to silence critics.
After replacing long time ruler Robert Mugabe following a 2017 military coup, Mnangagwa pledged to do away with draconian media laws and promote media freedom, but five years later he is now accused of being more authoritarian than his predecessor. – MISA ZIMBABWE AND OWN STAFF