The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has cautioned politicians against using inflammatory language or hate speech that incite violence and polarize the country ahead of the 2023 elections, The Standard can report.
The remarks were made by police spokesperson Assistant
Commissioner Paul Nyathi during his keynote address at the belated World Press
Freedom Day (WFPD) commemorations organised by the Media Institute of Southern
Africa (Misa) Zimbabwe.
“As the police, we have also taken note (of) the language
which is being used by some of our politicians. It is not good, across the
board,” said Nyathi recently.
Without mentioning names, the police mouthpiece appeared to
be making reference to the on-going exchange of words between Zanu PF and
Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) politicians following the abduction,
disappearance and callous murder of opposition activist Moreblessing Ali.
Ali’s gruesome murder by an alleged Zanu PF member Pius
Jamba sparked violent clashes between ruling party and main opposition
supporters in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza as both parties claim ownership of the
deceased.
While CCC maintained that Ali was a member of the party
right from her abduction, the ruling party’s councillor Masimbi Masimbi claimed
that the deceased was also their member after her death.
On one hand CCC accused the ruling party of terrorising
mourners and abduction of 20 women who were later rescued, while on the other
hand Zanu PF counter accused the opposition party of setting on fire, a house
that belongs to one of its chairperson George Murambatsvina.
Murambatsvina later died due to what has been alleged as
stress related causes following the destruction of his house.
His death coincided with that of another party leader in a
nearby area – Tina Gweshe – the former Manyame district chairperson, who was
allegedly poisoned at Ali’s funeral, according to Zanu PF.
Police say they are waiting for post-mortem results of the
two to ascertain the causes of their death.
Zengeza West legislator and CCC deputy national chair Job
Sikhala, who is also the Ali’s family lawyer together with the Chitungwiza
North legislator Godfrey Sithole have since been arrested and are currently
facing trial on charges of inciting violence.
Nyathi argued that the violence could have been avoided had
the politicians been more responsible with their choice of words.
He implored the
media to challenge politicians over their utterances.
“I also want to challenge our colleagues from the media,”
Nyathi said.
“You have done it but continue doing it.
“Challenge some of these politicians over the way they’re
using their language. Language is powerful ladies and gentlemen.
“Language is very powerful. It can either unite the people
or destroy the people.
“So as the police, yes, we can conduct investigations but
we also want the media to support us.
“We also want the media to work with us, so that
politicians cannot continue to use language to divide the people.”
The police spokesperson appealed to media bodies to forge
an alliance with the ZRP ahead of the
potentially volatile election set for 2023.
“I know, previously there was an acrimonious relationship
between the media and the police,” Nyathi said.
“We were not seeing eye to eye. We were enemies…
“And going forward, we know we are going to a challenging
environment. We are going into an environment where some relations will be
affected because of the elections.
“I want to appeal to you guys, let’s not lose one another.
Let’s continue to engage. Let’s continue to find one another.”
The ZRP and various media bodies such as Young Journalists
Association (Yoja), Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef), Media Alliance of
Zimbabwe (MAZ), Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ), among others, had
planned to engage all officers commanding provinces (Propol) ahead of the March
26 by elections.
Although the national tour failed to kick-off, it was meant
to sensitise provincial and district police commanders over the role of
journalists and further cement relations.
The development came following a spate of rampant
harassment, intimidation, detention and arrests of journalists by politically
connected individuals and law enforcement agents.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF), World Press Freedom
Index profile for Zimbabwe fell to number 137 this year from 130 last year.
The Index assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries
and territories.
Journalists such as Blessed Mhlanga and Chengeto Chidi of
Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) are recent case studies of the 12 media violations
recorded during the first half of this year by Misa Zimbabwe, which media
bodies argue could have been avoided.
According to records obtained from Misa Zimbabwe, a total
of 22 violations against media practitioners were recorded in 2021 down from 52
the previous year as indications are that the figure will spike towards
elections.
VMCZ executive director Loughty Dube said avoidable cases
of arbitrary arrests of journalists by junior officers have far reaching
consequences towards the country’s economy.
“Arbitrary arrests of journalists might not mean a thing to
a junior officer but it says everything to an investor,” Dube said.
“When investors are looking at potential investment
destinations, they look at the country’s profile, for instance what is the
level of media freedom and free speech.
“So cases where journalists are arrested or even detained
while on duty are classified as violations against the press, which have
negative implications against a country as an investment destination.”
Zinef national coordinator Njabulo Ncube concurred before
appealing to law enforcement agents to allow media practitioners to exercise
their duties without hindrance.
Nyathi acknowledged that journalists should be allowed to
exercise their duties without persecution and called on media bodies to revive
the national engagement tour before the 2023 polls.
He indicated that police Commissioner General Godwin
Matanga has already approved the engagement exercise.
“One of the issues, which we want to do with all the media
bodies in the country, is that we have made it clear that we want to go out to
meet all the officer commanding provinces,” Nyathi said.
“We want to start with Harare, because most of our problem
start with Harare and Bulawayo.
“We wanted to do this (national engagement tour) just
before the by-elections, so I still want to challenge you (journalists) to put
this program in motion so that we go out there and not only meet the officer
commanding provinces but we also want to meet officers commanding districts.
“So that you
(journalists) can also highlight some of the issues that affect you.
“I know that we have some youngsters that are coming up in
the police services.
“Some of these youngsters are overzealous just like some of
these young journalists.
“It’s a fact. So we want to go out there and engage the
commanders before elections are held in 2023.”
Elections are supposed to be an expression of a country,
society or a people’s free choice and an entry into a contract of governance,
but have become a complex process in the majority of fragile and somewhat
broken States.
Misa Zimbabwe in a statement concurred that “elections in
fragile states are a matter of life and death for both the citizens and
journalists, as these are high stakes national, and by extension, regional
processes.” Standard
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