Award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says he was humbled to address the M20 Summit in South Africa, an influential platform linked to the G20, where the world’s largest economies meet to shape global economic policy.
Chin’ono told delegates that Zimbabwean journalists operate under suffocating conditions, with colleagues such as Blessed Mhlanga and Faith Zaba facing relentless persecution for doing their work.
He accused Harare’s ruling elites of abusing state power to silence independent media while resorting to sponsoring fake news websites and online trolls to smear journalists when confronted with uncomfortable truths.
“Authoritarian regimes like Zimbabwe cannot defend their corruption or abuses, so they weaponize propaganda,” Chin’ono said, citing his own work exposing Covid-19 looting as an example of how social media has become a powerful tool to bypass censorship.
South Africa, as the current G20 chair, is hosting the M20 a forum for global dialogue on media, governance, and accountability.
Chin’ono’s remarks placed Zimbabwe’s shrinking democratic space under the global spotlight, raising fresh questions about freedom of expression under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government
