🔴Award-winning Zimbabwean investigative journalist Hopewell Chin'ono, now partly based in Johannesburg and London, appears on South African radio and television presenter Sbusiso Leope, popularly known as DJ Sbu's "Hustlers Corner SA" podcast.
He talks about his journalism career, media tyranny and authoritarian repression back home, and the country's deep political, economic and social problems which have forced his compatriots into neighbouring countries in their millions; the region's biggest migration exodus in contemporary history.
Millions of Zimbabweans have now fled the country mainly to South Africa, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, due to unemployment, poverty, suffering and political upheavals.
Zimbabwe has a deep reservoir of human capital and abundance of resources - diamonds, gold, iron ore, coal, platinum and lithium, among other valuable minerals - but has been impoverished by leadership, governance and policy failures, as well as corruption and incompetence by Zanu PF leaders.
🔸This is a @bbmhlanga appreciation post. Using the hashtag #WeStandWithBlessed, leave a kind message and a word of encouragement for him. We will ensure his lawyers pass the tidings of solidarity on to him.
#WeStandWithBlessed🔥
RETWEET!!!
Zimbabwean journalist and political prisoner Blessed Mhlanga will be at the High Court tomorrow morning, where his legal team, led by Chris Mhike, will be appealing against the magistrate’s ruling denying him bail.
Blessed Mhlanga is a journalist being persecuted simply for practising journalism, a right enshrined in the Zimbabwean constitution.
Could all those in Harare who have time go and show him solidarity and support🙏🏿🙏🏿
It means a lot to come to court and see that the nation is behind you.
Prison is a very lonely place, especially when you are being politically persecuted, as is happening to Blessed!
#FreeBlessedMhlanga
The Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and the Fourth Estate are the key pillars of a vibrant democracy. Journalists tell uncomfortable truths to power and expose malfeasance in our society. @bbmhlanga is being punished for exposing corruption and reminding people that in @edmnangagwa they are poorly governed. Blessed you are in our thoughts and prayers. This too shall pass!
🔸Your biggest fear when you’re in jail is that people will forget your plight. When your lawyer, family or friends visit, your first question to them is - vanhu varikuti chii?
In the confidential interview room or space, you ask your lawyer if you can see their phone to see whether there’s any solidarity. For this reason, it’s important for us not to forget Dhara @bbmhlanga’s plight. Let’s continue to demand his freedom because journalism is not a crime. Our Constitution protects media freedom.
If you stand in solidarity with this fearless journalist, RETWEET.
We need new leaders. #FreeBlessedMhlanga🇿🇼
Today marks nine days of political detention for Zimbabwean journalist Blessed Mhlanga for a crime he did not commit.
Many wonder why Blessed has been jailed.
He brought Jealousy Mawarire onto his programme, where Mawarire exposed that Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was involved in a massive corrupt deal to steal Zimbabwe’s Post Office Savings Bank (POSB).
The bank has a wide reach throughout Zimbabwe, with 34 physical branches and additional agency branches through partnerships with Zimpost and supermarkets.
Mawarire produced the evidence on camera, and President Mnangagwa’s spokesman, George Charamba, was quick to say that Blessed was going down for this interview—and that is exactly what happened. They jailed him denying him bail.
This is how Mnangagwa operates.
I was detained three times for exposing corruption deals he was involved in.
He created fake charges unrelated to the exposures, claiming that I wanted to remove an elected government.
It is important for progressive Zimbabweans to stand with Blessed and his family during this dark hour because he is in jail for informing us and helping stop the looting of public property.
RETWEET for the world to know this persecution of an innocent journalist.
Journalism is not a crime, what is criminal is stealing public property.
We should not be distracted by ZANUPF plants being sent to make us lose focus on this travesty of justice. Blessed is innocent!
#FreeBlessedMhlanga
10 days to go until Blessed Mhlanga @bbmhlanga’s remand hearing on March 14, 2025. Press freedom, freedom of expression and justice must never be taken for granted. It is Blessed today. Tomorrow it could be you or someone you close to you. #JournalismIsNotACrime#FreeDhara #PressFreedom