By Dr Masimba Mavaza | Blessing Mhlanga and his company would have remained unknown if he was not arrested. Sometimes little brains are a burden to its owner. Arresting Mhlanga was one of great mistakes to ne made in the country. The consititution of the Republic enshrines the Bill of rights. These rights safegurd our hard earned freedoms and are a hallmark of democracy.

The whole concept of human rights is far greater and wider than the limits of curious debate between and among scholars, constitutional lawyers and political scientists. It is about the protection of the citizenry against excessive use of power by the state or and its organs.

Equally important, the respect and honour of human rights by a state does not weaken that state. Rather, it gives strength, credibility and resilience.

I must state that the excercise of human rights in any democratic society is subject to the objective consideration of state security and public safety. However, individual rights must not be lightly taken away under the pretex of acting in the public interest. Actions which throws the public in fear are never in the public interest and have always been against public interest. The strength of a government is seen through the freedoms accorded to the public. It is not in the public interest to scare the very public you purport to defend.

One of the greatest freedoms in a state constitution is the freedom of speech. It is one that needs forebearence. It implies acceptance that among us there are those whose speech range from the annoying to the brazenly hedious. None should be denied their freedom of speech simply because they are annoying, hold an uncomfortable view to authorities or are even hidious. As long as their speech does not reach the threshold of harming national interest or threaten public safety, we must live with them. It should be clearly stated that freedom of speech means freedom after speech. The freedom of speech is measured after the speech.

The freedom of speech covers the Press Freedom. Press freedom is a species of freedom of speech. It plays a very significant two-fold role in a democracy. Firstly by casting a torchlight in public affairs, it promotes transperency and accountability of public servants, including elected representatives. By this it contributes to the improvement of public representation and the quality of public services. Secondly, press freedom cintributes to an informed citizentry and to participatory demcracy.

In the circumstances, an attack on journalist, including arbitrary arrests and intimidation, is an attack on the public. It also seriously undermines transperency and democracy. It lessens public accountability and yields angry society. It creates a situation and circumstances of the ruled versus the rulers. It is not love to love someone to the extent of killing him. This is not the meanimg of love to death. It id the death of the loving not the death of the loved.

It in the light of the above that I must discuss the arrest of a popular and vetaran journalist, Mr Blessing Mhlanga, also affectionately known as “Dhara” was his arrest to protect the public? Or was it to protect him against the public? Or is it to scare the public and make them afraid of themselves.

Blessing’s arrest followed his interview of public figures, namely Cde Blessing Geza nd Jealous Mawarire. Even though the charges do not clearly state the interview but border on the lines of the aftermath of the interview.

The prosecution case is that Mhlanga , who works for a media outlet which is owned by Trever Ncube, a presidential advisor published data inciting violence.
It is unclear which part of the interview or interview constituted data inciting violence. It is even less clear how any such data allegedly incite violence.
The threshold for a crime must be where the police and the prosecution has a reasonable suspicion that an offence known to the law has been committed. It is not good enough to merely state that there has been publication of data inciteful of violence. Press freedom, like any other, cannot be taken away that lightly.

It is questionable that the police and the prosecution believe in the charges that they preferred against Mr Mhlanga. If they did, why have they not co-joined Mr Mhlanga’s employer in these charges? The police have done their best to show their ignorance of the very law they claim to have been breached.

The lack of conciseness in the charges, coupled with the omission to arrest and charge Mr Blessing’s employer, is indicative of spurious charges. The reason for his arrest then becomes clearly not a criminal breach but a political motive.

More than anything, this would appear to be a case where the state is muzzling free speech. Unfortunately this comes out as a strong-handed attempt to create a docile society of monolithic views. This arrest was not thought of and badly executed.

The state cannot be protected by an intimidation of journalist. The state is protected by robust debate and the thriving of critical and opposing view points. Only a fragile and timid system feels the need to be protected by the prohibitive arm of the state. The arrest itself goes against the president’s call where he encouraged the opposition to oppose while the ruling party corrects. The arrest of Blessing Mhlanga is a result of a highly overzealous people who seek presidential favours by placing the knee of justice on the vulnerable public’s throats.

The seemingly unjustified arrest of journalist Blessings smacks of a timid system that is extremely uneasy of criticism and afraid of a plurarity of view points. This embarrassed the country the party and the President.

Unfortunately for the, state arrest and pre-trial inceceration of this journalist has generated greater publicity for him and opposing views than would have otherwise been. His arrest has taken our country miles backwards. This happened at the time Zimbanwe is in Switzerland 🇨🇭 for peer review. This arrest has actually armed the country’s enemies and now the country is viewed in bas light amd the legacy of the president is being dragged through the sewage of unreasonableness.

Those in authority must learn that the toleration of different views, even those that may be extremely uncomfortable to them, provides strength. While the state may believe in the voctory of arresting a single journalist like Blessing, greater and long lasting damage has been caused by such arbitrary arrest.
Political attacks on press freedom, including the detention of journalists, suppression of independent media outlets and widespread dissemination of misinformation, have significantly died down in Zimbabwe. But the arrest of Mhlanga has suddenly put the whole nation against world order. Zimbabwe’s human rights record was measure on the ability of journalists to work and report freely and independently.

Now the world freedom lenses shows an overall decline in press freedom and a steep rise in the political repression of journalists and independent media outlets in Zimbabwe. This was a husdle we as a country had overcome only to have one silly overzealous behaviour sending our record crushing down.
The arrest of Blessing Mhlanga points to a worrying decline in support and respect for media autonomy and an increase in pressure from the state or other political actors. In the case of Mhlanga the state and other political forces played a decreasing role in protecting press freedom. This disempowerment sometimes goes hand in hand with more hostile actions that undermine the role of journalists, or even instrumentalise the media through campaigns of harassment or disinformation.
The action of arresting Mhlanga has been viewed across the region as an attempt to control and curtail the media through violence, arrests and draconian laws, compounded by “systematic impunity for crimes of violence against journalists”. This trap we had long escaped from it but by the actions of thise with no memory we have foumd outselves back into the same evil demon which Cde Mnangagwa had successfully navigated and distangle us fromm. One of the reasons the President earned respect abroad was his tolerance of the opposing views and opposing media. It should be clearly noted that “The press is free and cannot be silenced”.
It should me stated that Freedom of Speech is about what you can say; Freedom of the Press is about to whom you can say it.Press freedom means the government can’t prevent information from being published in most cases. It is closely tied to freedom of speech. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom. The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained. The constitution’s protections include the vast majority of speech and expression, but it does have its limits. These limits have been carefully honed over decades of case law into a handful of narrow categories of speech.
Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of everyone. It is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern democracies.
If we are to be precluded from offering our sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most seriousand alarming consequences, that can invite the considerationof Mankind; reason is of no use to us — the freedom of Speech may be taken away — and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
Governments need and have ample power to punish treasonable acts. But it does not follow that they must have a further power to punish thought and speech as distinguished from acts. Our own free society should never forget that laws which stigmatize and penalize thought and speech of the unorthodox have a way of reaching, ensnaring and silencing many more people than at first intended. We must have freedom of speech for all or we will in the long run have it for none but the cringing and the craven. And I cannot too often repeat my belief that the right to speak on matters of public concern must be wholly free or eventually be wholly lost.
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Freedom of the press is the right to circulate opinions in print without censorship by the government.
All people should be afforded equal opportunities to receive, seek and impart information by any means of communication without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, economic status, birth or any other social condition.
Of all the things we have done weong we have messed up big time when we allowed our ego to arrest Blessing Mhlanga.