Thaddeus Kahari

A Zimbabwean journalist and political prisoner, Blessed Mhlanga will spend another weekend in jail for a crime he did not commit. His only crime is interviewing Jealousy Mawarire, who exposed a corrupt scandal to steal the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) linked to the President on Mhlanga’s television programme. The use of state institutions to silence journalists from doing their work is not only oppressive but kleptocratic. The fact that Mhlanga has been imprisoned for close to three weeks for merely conducting an interview with a whistleblower exposes the extent to which state institutions have been weaponised to silence dissent and investigative journalism by ZANUPF and Mnangagwa. Journalists play a crucial role in holding power to account and exposing corruption. The use of state institutions to target and silence journalists not only violates their human rights but also undermines the democratic principles of transparency and freedom of expression. #FreeBlessedMhlanga