ON February 24, 2025, Zimbabwean journalist Blessed Mhlanga was arrested on allegations of transmitting electronic data messages that incite public violence.The State alleges that Mhlanga contravened section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act by publishing his interviews which [the state alleges] carried messages that incite public violence.
What are the real motives and intentions of the state for arresting and detaining Mhlanga?Historically, dictatorships have been characterised by the overthrowing of the democratic constitutional order or the abolishment of democratic institutions. For example, dictators have in the past suspended the Constitution, banned independent media, or suspended elections. Since the end of the Cold War, the world has witnessed the rise of nuanced forms of dictatorship, which esteemed scholars Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way describe as “competitive authoritarian regimes”. Such authoritarian regimes maintain constitutional freedoms (on paper) but they use subtle and creative ways of undermining the same freedoms.Therefore, unlike traditional dictators, contemporary dictators do not always ban constitutional freedoms, such as media freedoms. They keep these freedoms in place in order to maintain a public posture of a regime committed to democracy. Some of these dictators describe themselves as constitutionalists. This helps the regime avoid isolation by the international community and other critical stakeholders. However, in order to retain power in the face of stiff political opposition the regime uses creative ways of undermining constitutional freedoms. Such creative ways include bribing its critics as well as opposition leaders. When the critics refuse to be co-opted through bribes, the regime will persecute them.In order to disguise the persecution of its critics, the regime uses a tactic which Amnesty International describes as “erosion of the truth” in its recent publication, Be Water, which is based on The Ground Truth project’s Authoritarian Playbook. Erosion of truth refers to attempts by the regime to lie and create narratives that distort the truth and hide the regime’s vile activities. Eroding the truth is critical for the regime to maintain a positive public image and public trust.ED the competitive authoritarianistThis theory of competitive authoritarianism best explains the way President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime engages with its critics and political opponents, particularly the regime’s motives behind the arrest and detention of journalist Blessed Mhlanga. When he replaced the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2017, PMnangagwa styled himself as a constitutionalist and even said he is “as soft as a wool”.Even though he came to power through a coup in November 2017, he promised that he would uphold and adhere to principles of democratic norms of governance. His government has symbolically maintained constitutional freedoms, including media freedoms which are guaranteed under article 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.However, under his government, there have been attempts to co-opt journalists and owners of private media houses through bribes so that they would either slow down on criticizing the government or they would join others in singing praises for the government. Scholar Noah Kupeta has extensively discussed this in his recent academic article “Soft as wool? Media representations of the Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa after the 2018 post-election violence”.To some extent, the regime’s attempt to co-opt the media has succeeded because there are several privately-owned media houses and social media bloggers who used to fiercely hold the government accountable for corruption and other vices but have now become praise singers of the regime. However, some of the journalists have refused to be bribed and have continued to speak truth to power and hold the government accountable. These journalists have now been targeted for persecution by the regime. Mhlanga belongs to this group of journalists who have refused to be co-opted through bribes.Mhlanga comes from a very humble background, rising from being a street vendor selling newspapers to becoming a journalist and now an online television anchor with a huge digital following. His story resembles sheer passion for journalism and his determination to speak truth to power.Consistent with the behaviour of competitive authoritarian regimes, the truth about Mhlanga’s entry into the media fraternity and his competence as a journalist is being eroded (distorted). Regime enablers are distorting Mhlanga’s journalism background by deliberately mischaracterizing him as a mere street vendor who was catapulted into the newsroom.Their intention is to cast him as an incompetent person who masquerades as a journalist and who should not be taken seriously. Through this mischaracterization, the regime hopes to divert public attention from its persecution of Mhlanga the journalist, as punishment for promoting the expression of views that are critical of the government.
Why do I say so?Mhlanga hosts an online television show which regularly features different kinds of guests discussing pertinent issues such as corruption and human rights violations. Corruption is rife in Zimbabwe and is responsible for the high levels of poverty in the country. In 2024, Zimbabwe was ranked 158 out of 193 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Reports, including by international media indicate that most of the corruption in Zimbabwe involves government officials or persons who are closely linked to the regime and is associated with government tenders. Though the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has issued a statement denying, there is some evidence to suggest that there is an ongoing process of privatizing one of the parastatals- the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB). This is a State-owned bank whose clients are mainly low-income Zimbabweans but has a massive asset base which includes buildings and other properties. There are concerns that the process of privatizing this bank will involve corruption, and the people will lose their assets.In one of the recent interviews, Mhlanga hosted and interviewed Jealous Mawarire who is also a journalist and a political commentator. in the interview, Mawarire claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is involved in a corrupt scheme that is aimed at enabling the takeover of the POSB by a bogus private investor. Mawarire produced a document which he said was a copy of a directive from Mnangagwa’s Office illegally instructing the Attorney-General to instruct the POSB board of directors to accept a proposal from an investor whose bid to purchase POSB had been rejected by the State regulatory body on the basis that the investor lacked credibility.Immediately after the interview, an X account associated with the President’s Deputy Chief Secretary (Mr George Charamba) “tweeted” a veiled threat against Mhlanga for having carried out this interview. The post stated that “Ichi chePOSB chichamuzvimbira zvachose. Mark my words!!!!!!” This can be translated to “Blessed Mhlanga will pay heavily for this interview on POSB”. Mr Charamba is notorious for threatening government critics using his pseudo X accounts.Consistent with the behaviour of competitive authoritarian regimes, Mhlanga’s arrest and detention has been disguised by the regime as legitimate enforcement of criminal justice, yet the reality is that this is persecution by judicial harassment, whereby the regime abuses the law and the justice system to harass and silence its critics by way of targeting them with trumped up criminal charges and detaining them for long periods of time.Mhlanga has been charged for allegedly transmitting electronic data messages that incite public violence. The regime alleges that he published interviews which carried messages that incite public violence. The legal basis for these charges is a vague and draconian law – Section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act-which criminalizes the publication of data messages that incite public violence. The regime has arrested Mhlanga even when it knows that he is not the publisher of the channel that carried the interviews in question. The publisher and owner of the channel is a private corporate entity. However, the regime appears to be interested in persecuting Mhlanga and has ignored the fact that he is not a publisher of the channel.The Zimbabwe regime has a notorious history of abusing law and the courts to persecute its critics. A recent example is that of opposition leader Job Sikhala who was arrested and kept in detention for a long period of time. He was denied bail by the courts, only to be found innocent on most of the charges but after having spent nearly 600 days in detention.Consistent with the behaviour of competitive authoritarian regimes, the Mnangagwa government often uses “erosion of truth” as a tactic to disguise its persecution of critics. As mentioned earlier, erosion of truth means distorting the truth in order to create a narrative that is favorable to the regime’s interests.The arrest of Mhlanga should be seen in this light. One of the “truths” is that the regime has presided over corruption, yet the same regime claims to be a corruption buster. In an attempt to “erode” the truth, the regime wants to silence voices which expose the truth about the crisis of corruption in Zimbabwe.Mhlanga has become one of the journalists who have refused co-option by the regime and chosen to expose the truth. So, he is being arrested as part of the regime’s project of shutting down the voices of reason. Through legal persecution against Mhlanga, the regime hopes to intimidate other journalists from exposing the truth.Last wordThe arrest and continued detention of Mhlanga on what clearly appears to be vexatious and trumped-up criminal charges exposes the reality that Mnangagwa is presiding over a ruthless competitive authoritarian regime. This government must be seen for what it is - a special type of a dictatorship.Whilst Mnangagwa’s government has maintained constitutional freedoms on paper, his government employs creative ways of subverting those freedoms. Through the legal persecution of Mhlanga, the regime is carrying out a subtle but aggressive attack on the media which will have long-term repercussions on media freedoms in Zimbabwe, and eventually may erode the truth.Will the international media community and other professionals in Zimbabwe look away?
- Today, if the regime does not suffer any lawful costs for arresting and detaining a journalist, they will also come for other professionals in Zimbabwe who dare to speak truth to power.But more than anything else, Mhlanga needs the support of his local and foreign media colleagues to campaign for his freedom by exposing the truth behind his arrest and continued detention. Justice Alfred Mavedzenge is a legal scholar and constitutional law jurist who is adjunct senior lecturer of public law at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
