Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Zimbabwe Journalists Cry Out for More Freedom

Columbus Mavhunga

   HARARE - Press freedom watchdogs say Zimbabwe's government continues to
   stifle the media, despite promises by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to
   relax restrictions.

   Kudzanai Musengi was arrested recently as he tried to record police
   enforcing the lockdown rules imposed by the government to contain the
   coronavirus.

   Police said Musengi was filming them without a valid accreditation
   card. The government media commission has said the 2019 cards, however,
   of which Musengi was in possession, are valid until the 2020 cards are
   issued.

   The freelance journalist says his arrest is an example of how
   authorities prevent journalists from doing their work.

   "State security arms of government seem to operate in the world of
   their own," he told VOA. "Many a time, they harass, they arrest
   journalists, which is very worrying. We have seen an upsurge of these
   arrests especially during the lockdown."

   Human rights groups have recorded at least 15 arrests of journalists
   since Zimbabwe's lockdown began in late March. In most cases, police
   said the journalists were intruding in their operations.

   Nick Mangwana, the secretary of Zimbabwe's ministry of information,
   told VOA that some of the arrests during the lockdown are a result of a
   "misunderstanding." He says the government regards the media as part of
   the "essential services." He added that Mnangagwa's government is
   ensuring that the journalists' legal environment improves.
   "If you check in the last two years, Zimbabwe is the only country that
   improved in accordance of Freedom House index," he noted. "We have
   clearly been a different government, especially in the new dispensation
   to the previous one, in our approach to freedom of information, and as
   well to the freedom of the media."
   For years, human rights groups and advocates for free media have
   classified Zimbabwe as being harsh toward journalists. The government
   of longtime president Robert Mugabe was notorious for arresting
   journalists and shutting down news outlets who published work deemed
   critical of Mugabe, his allies or his wife, Grace.

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