Relief as Zim journalist finally granted bail, but concerns remain over media freedom attacks

Press freedom advocates have welcomed the granting of bail to Zimbabwean journalist Blessed Mhlanga but say the arrest of journalists and other assaults on media freedom remain a cause for concern throughout Africa, days after the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.

Mhlanga, a senior journalist for Zimbabwean online television station HStv, was arrested on 24 February 2025 on charges of inciting public violence, after interviewing a war veteran who has been calling for the ouster of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and had been denied bail three times before. 

Mhlanga’s interviewee, Blessed Geza, has been leading calls to oust Mnangagwa, whom he blames for the country’s economic ills. At the end of March, Zimbabweans stayed home after Geza, now a fugitive, called for mass demonstrations.

Read more: Zimbabweans opt for silence over protests: A day of defiance amid government assurances

After hearing from Mhlanga’s lawyers, high court Judge Gibson Mandaza on Tuesday, 6 May, granted Mhlanga US$500 (about R9,150) bail and dismissed the prosecution’s arguments that the accused would abscond. 

Tabani Moyo, the regional and concurrent country director for Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), told Daily Maverick that although Mhlanga was still facing trial, his being granted bail was a welcome development.

“The granting of bail is supposed to be a basic human right, and for one to take almost 70 days to access or enjoy that basic human right is a travesty of justice.”

Moyo said Misa had seen a decrease in the number of violations against press freedom in Zimbabwe, attributing this to engagements between media practitioners and the police, but added that “the quantitative easing of these attacks on media freedoms does not take away their qualitative nature, which involved various players attacking or assaulting the media while it was doing its constitutionally mandated work”.

He said his organisation believed that the enjoyment of media freedom was the anchor of all other rights, and therefore it was imperative for society to play a role in helping guarantee its existence. 

“We are in the commemoration of World Press Freedom throughout the month of May, and this calls for reflection by the entire society in terms of helping bring about the conditions that enable the media to perform its basic rights.”

Muthoki Mumo, the Africa programme coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent organisation that advocates for press freedom globally, told Daily Maverick the news of Mhlanga’s being granted bail was a welcome relief after he had spent so many weeks behind bars. 

“I must say that Blessed should never have spent a single day behind bars. We followed his case closely. We were of the opinion and remain of the opinion that his unjust detention is symptomatic of a broader restriction that we have seen in political discourse and debate in Zimbabwe.”

Read more: Rising tensions in Zimbabwe as Mnangagwa’s ambitions spark outcry from opposition and allies alike

Mumo said the Committee to Protect Journalists had recorded a number of incidents in Zimbabwe, including threatening with arrest those who were critical of the presidency, and threats of greater regulation of social media, adding that the worrying attacks on press freedom were not limited to Zimbabwe.

“Blessed may soon be free but many others remain behind bars on our continent in countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea and Cameroon, which routinely rank among the worst jailers of journalists in Africa. We see this in other countries like Burundi, which has sentenced a woman journalist to 21 months in prison for a WhatsApp message, and in Senegal where we see a journalist facing life in prison. 

“As we commemorate World Press Freedom Day and activities associated with it, we must acknowledge, remember and keep at the top of our minds all those journalists who spent this very important day for our media community behind bars, all because they did their jobs as journalists,” she said.

Mumo also decried “a deeply worrying crackdown on freedom of expression in Kenya, going as far back as the anti-government demonstrations last year, with a blogger and several filmmakers being arrested under very dubious circumstances that do not necessarily follow due process, really because they criticised, or are perceived to have criticised, the authorities”.

She said the Committee to Protect Journalists had been observing the enactment and enforcement of legislation that was inimical to press freedom across Africa, adding that even in countries where press freedom was enshrined in the constitution, “there is a chipping away at this freedom, and there is an attempt to restrict what can be reported about, what can be spoken about freely, and that often prison is what awaits journalists who cross certain lines”.  

Mhlanga’s trial begins on 14 May.

His arrest drew widespread condemnation, and some parliamentarians in the UK had exhorted the government to quiz First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is scheduled to visit the country next month. DM