Executive director of Good Governance Africa Chris Maroleng has denounced in the strongest possible terms the reported arrest of Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono ahead of mass demonstrations against corruption planned for 31 July 2020.
This comes after Chinono was arrested and spent the night in Harare central police facing charges of inciting people to commit violence.
Maroleng said Chinono has been a stalwart of investigative journalism and general coverage of affairs relating to Zimbabwe for close to two decades
Maroleng said it is very sad to hear the news about Chinono’s arrest because he has been doing his job which is to bring people the latest and information.
Chinono was using his fearless reporting and effective use of social media to bypass state control of information and expose government corruption.
Maroleng said from a governance perspective, GGA believes that shutting down the space for freedom of expression is unacceptable.
Maroleng said Zimbabwe’s government should observe the Declaration of Table Mountain, which calls on African states to recognise the indivisibility of press freedom and their responsibility to respect their commitments to African and international protocols upholding the freedom, independence and safety of the press.
