MDC condemns harassment and intimidation of journalists

The recent arrests of Newsday Deputy Editor Nqaba Matshazi and reporter Xolisani Ncube after blowing the whistle on discrepancies in the payment of civil servants salaries and bonuses are a disturbing sign of the government's continuous disdain for media freedom.

The detainment of the two reporters last week was an outrageous attack on press freedom designed to send a chilling message to all other journalists covering issues around national security and to silence them. We are seeing an unprecedented rise in cases of intimidation and harassment of journalists each time they expose the rot in the security sector, government or the ruling party. Intimidating journalists is a tactic of totalitarian regimes not democratic governments as it puts a damper on democracy. If government takes legitimacy seriously it should make respect for media freedom a priority in Zimbabwe. The MDC calls on the responsible authorities to unconditionally drop all charges against the reporters.

As MDC we believe in the end this is not about individual journalists or any specific case, but about citizens' right to share and receive information and the fourth estate's role of holding our national leaders, government and its departments accountable. We commend the brave journalists for sticking to their mandate of informing the public on the CIOs/ civil servants salary and bonuses story as it is an issue of great public interest, seeing as civil servants had to endure a miserable Christmas after government pleaded bankruptcy. These attempts aimed at intimidating and silencing the media must end.