By Crime and Courts Reporter-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration is escalating its crackdown on dissenting media voices by targeting prominent media mogul and former presidential advisor Trevor Ncube. 

Authorities have indicated they will charge Ncube’s online broadcaster, Heart and Soul TV (HSTV), alongside journalist Blessed Mhlanga, who has been detained for over two months.

The move signals a deepening fallout between Ncube and the Mnangagwa regime, years after the media entrepreneur threw his weight behind the 2017 military coup that ousted the late Robert Mugabe and brought Mnangagwa to power.

On Wednesday, Chris Mhike, one of Mhlanga’s lawyers, told reporters that the state had officially notified them of its intention to include HSTV—an Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) subsidiary—in the charges Mhlanga is facing. 

The charges relate to a series of broadcast interviews where Mhlanga hosted war veteran Blessed Geza, who openly called for Mnangagwa’s resignation and rejected suggestions that the president should remain in power until 2030.

“The state has pronounced that HSTV, the organisation that employs Blessed Mhlanga, will be a co-accused,” Mhike said. “Charges are going to be levelled against this media house in respect of the same allegations Mhlanga is facing.”

Mhlanga’s trial is now scheduled to begin on May 14.

His legal team had objected to further delays, but prosecutors abruptly announced they were ready for trial following a lunch adjournment.

Mhike also noted that the trial date was set despite prior notice that his preferred counsel would be unavailable at that time.

The charges against HSTV come amid growing tensions between Mnangagwa and Ncube, who publicly disavowed the regime he once supported. 

Ncube resigned from the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) in 2019, saying his advice was consistently ignored.

Speaking recently at the BizNews Conference in Drakensberg, South Africa, Ncube admitted regret over backing the 2017 coup. “I was one of those people who said give Emmerson Mnangagwa a chance—and how wrong I was,” he said. “I thought maybe, having witnessed Mugabe’s failures up close, he [Mnangagwa] would turn things around. Again, I was disappointed.”

Ncube owns several media outlets under AMH, including The Standard and NewsDay.