Lives of Zimbabwean Journalists At Risk As Police Assault Another Freelancer… FULL TEXT

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has bemoaned the operational challenges that Zimbabwean journalists have been subjected to during the ongoing national lockdown after a freelance journalist, Terence Sipuma, was yesterday assaulted by police details at Kuwadzana roundabout in the capital, Harare.
Sipuma was reportedly forced to lie down after he produced his accreditation card as the police officers accused him of exposing them. They allegedly took his phone and started searching for videos, warning the journalist that they were going to subject him to more beatings in the event that they found clips ‘exposing them’.
The mandatory lockdown has seen a rise in the attack of Zimbabwean journalists by members of the police deployed to man a multiplicity of roadblocks that have sprouted across the country.

Read the full MISA-ZIMBABWE Statement below:
Police assault freelance journalist
12 Apr 2020
Freelance journalist Terence Sipuma was on 11 April 2020 reportedly assaulted by members of the police and the army at the Kuwadzana roundabout in Harare while on his way to Chegutu to report on Zimbabwe’s 21-day COVID-19 lockdown.
According to Sipuma, who is a member of the Young Journalists Association (YOJA), he was stopped at the roundabout and asked where he was going.
“They asked where I was going and the moment I showed them my journalism I.D. (accreditation) card, I was asked to lie down (on the ground) and was beaten being accused of exposing them.
“They took my phone and as they were searching through the phone they promised me that they were going to do more if I had videos or pictures of that operation,” said Sipuma.
He told MISA Zimbabwe that he was released after about 15 minutes.
MISA Zimbabwe position
The police and the Zimbabwe Media Commission should urgently investigate these cases involving the continued assaults and harassment of journalists and bring the culprits to book, otherwise, these media freedom violations will continue with impunity thereby placing the lives of journalists at great risk.

Zwnews