Zimbabwe: RSF and MISA Concerned About the Increase in Press Freedom Violations Linked to the Covid-19 Epidemic

In a letter sent to the Minister of Information, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Zimbabwe branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) are alarmed by the upsurge in attacks and arrests of journalists in connection with the coverage of the coronavirus health crisis.

Since the onset of the health crisis, which affected more than a million people and caused more than 21,000 deaths in Africa, RSF has already recorded more than a hundred press freedom attacks in connection with the coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic across the entire African continent. Zimbabwe alone has a quarter of the violations recorded, including a dozen arbitrary arrests , and ranks among the most repressive countries in this area.

Faced with this alarming increase in repression reminiscent of the era of Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship, RSF and the Southern African Media Institute MISA-Zimbabwe, a local press freedom organization, addressed on Monday August 3 a letter to the Minister of Information, Monica Mutsvangwa. In this letter which has been made public, the two organizations ask him to take all the necessary measures to put an end to the arrests, arbitrary detentions and attacks of journalists by the security forces, in connection with their coverage of the coronavirus epidemic. 

Read the full letter here . 

Zimbabwe ranks 126th out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index published by RSF.

Related documents Letter RSF / MISA PDF – 129.05 KB

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders(RSF), CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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