Mhlanga’s arrest: A costly own goal for Zanu-PF

By Prof Shepherd Mpofu

There are three critical issues that stand out in Mnangagwa’s disgraceful arrest of Blessed Mhlanga, the AMH senior reporter. This disgrace is further magnified by denial of bail for a crime that does not make any sense at all.

First, the arrest and subsequent denial of bail for the Blessed Mhlanga is not only criminalisation of journalism but a blight that eclipses whatever good things one might imagine Zanu-Pf to have delivered since Mugabe’s departure. Any attempts to differentiate the current regime’s behaviours from Mugabe’s has been further undermined.

The argument here is not that the present regime has been any better, for most characters running it were Mugabe’s enablers. Second, the Mnangagwa regime, one may argue, is clearly unhinged. Third, there is a clear gulf between what Mnangwa promised when he took overpower for the first time through a coup and the path he has taken to-date. 

In 2023 Misa and Amnesty International released reports suggesting that the promises Mnangagwa made had not been delivered, as the new was the same as the old regarding press freedom. The promise of his regime was clear: A Zimbabwe that is open for business and one that, at least promised freedom of expression to citizens and journalists. That promises and delivery are of course not one and the same. In action the regime has shown how worlds apart these are. Reacting to the police’s barbaric action of chasing away journalists waiting to be addressed by the opposition at Bronte Hotel in 2018 Mnangagwa told the world and Zimbabweans that freedom of speech was the anchor of the new Zimbabwe. “Anyone is free to address the media at any time” he tweeted. What has changed now?

It would seem that intervention was dishonest on the president’s part or the ED 2030 carrot that has been dangled before him is bewitching enough to recant on his promise.

There is this imagination and obsession, in ruling party circles at least, that the media can and will overthrow the so-called democratically elected government. This fear of the media is not healthy at all and suggests deep confidence crises among the ruling elite. The regime has not made any plausible argument why they should remain at the helm of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has become an embarrassment and laughingstock in the sub-region with hundreds of thousands of people involuntarily living on the margins in the neighbouring countries. In Johannesburg and Pretoria, blind beggars on the traffic lights are mostly if not all Zimbabwe. Nothing can be as shameful as a country that cannot take of its vulnerable but expends so much energy on programmes like ED 2030 for self-serving purposes. The chairmanship of SADC, where all and sundry are told to walk up with their chests high because mese murimachairman eSADC is not only laughable but a product of intellectual vacuousness of barefoot levels.

Zimbabwe’s problems have largely been those of greed by the powerful. The coup that disposed of Mugabe and still retained Mugabeism had nothing to do with the new Zimbabwe.It was about greed. Greed to stay in power and pawn the country and vandalise the future of millions of citizens. The current ED 2030 has nothing to do with the aspirations of millions of hopeless Zimbabweans both inside and outside the country. It is no doubt aboutMnangagwa’s greed and those fronting it are doing so for self-aggrandizement.

In short, it is about the greed of the minions parroting this vision. By the way, if we are to be honest with ourselves the whole vision is fuzzy. Even its visionaries are seeing darkly through the glass and they cannot clarify anything, assuming they have the capacity to. We cannot have a leader staying for longer than allowed by the constitution because he has dreams. There are better leaders with better dreams well suited for the current challenges in the current times.

The arrest of Blessed Mhlanga for the interviews he conducted with those who disagree with the ED 2030 project not only undermines the constitution, freedom of expression and other basic freedoms but also strikes fear into the hearts of the critics and independent journalists who might give those voices an expression. If free speech is the lifeblood of democracy and conversations the rails on which to build and steer the course towards a prospering Zimbabwe, then we are doomed if Zanu-Pf’s behaviour is anything to go by. 

Arresting Mhlanga for interviews he carried and not arresting people like Blessed Geza who have said unpalatable but constitutional things is unreasonable. It undermines the role of the media inany self respecting society. One wonders what our journalism schools should teach in the face of such behaviour by the state. Zanu-Pf then needs to redefine journalism for us so that we know what the profession means in the limited imagination of the regime. Zimbabwe is a classic case study of terrible state-media relations. Before his arrest, Blessed Mhlanga wrote on X that he is a journalists who speaks to anyone, ‘includ[ing] those that seek to jail me’. Under Zanu-Pf we have seen journalists being polarized and factionalised to the detriment of citizens’ rights to a free, fair, well informed and informing media. 

For a long time Zimbabweans have not been fairly served in as far as their informational needs are concerned because of the poisoning effect Zanu-pf has had on the media across the board. Some of the drawbacks include coming up with restrictive laws that have no place in the current day and age. There is nothing to be celebrated for revising certain media laws that were passed by the same system. It is not a sign of reforming but an indication that the whole lot should not be trusted with anything. 

If the ruling party is doing everything well, surely there is no need to worry about the side shows of the war veterans and those critiquing it. Let them ventilate their thoughts, engage them and cultivate that vibrant culture of debates expected in a sane society. However, it is clear that ED 2030 is a selfish project which does not have interest of the nation at it’s core hence it punishes any conversations. Blessed Mhlanga is a convenient victim of the factional power plays in Zanu-Pf. He is a victim of a spirit that does not want to be questioned. He is a victim of a system that wants to criminalise thinking and survival of democracy.

Trevor Ncube, the owner of AMH whose online television broadcast the offending interviews, commenting about the denial of bail in Mhlanga’s case commented that Mnangagwa owns the courts. That is a huge indictment on the courts and the courts should be worried when citizens think of them as appendages of the ruling party. It shows that citizens have zero confidence in them.

The courts have been abused by Zanu-Pf so much that most of the cases end up being thrown out and it becomes clear at the end of the day that the abuse of the law and courts is meant to break people like Blessed Mhlanga, their families and those watching. The courts need to protect themselves from this abuse and refuse to be a theatre for these shenanigans. Since the mid-2000s there has been negative perceptions about the justice system and it is time some serious judges rescued the courts.

The courts should be called upon to uphold the rule of law and not be seen as aligned to the Mnangagwa regime. It is unfathomable that a journalist could be denied bail on a case where he is alleged to have acted but never said anything, on a platform he does not own and we do not even have proof he was responsible for the transmission of the material. Equating journalism to terrorism is not helpful to Zanu-Pf’s cause. It undermines whatever project the party is embarking on to remain relevant to the country’s future. And for the courts to be seen to be co-signing to such behaviours is tragic. Once you have the citizens not trusting the state and the courts you are surely brewing disaster.

The arrest of innocent journalists and political opponents achieves not even one goal for the country’s positive image. It creates heroes unnecessarily. These heroes become a symbol of the party’s oppression and millions’ hopes and dreams that have been deferred. It sends a message even to those who want to invest or visit the country for tourism etc that there is clearly no rule of law in Zimbabwe. If such things can happen to citizens, what about to investors and visitors. Whichever way we look at it, Mhlanga’s arrest is a goal achieved, an own goal.