On a rainy day in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, prison officers armed with AK47s are monitoring prisoners disembarking from a prison van at Harare magistrates court.
A few prisoners have leg cuffs which are often used for prisoners with grave crimes such as serial armed robberies and those who are a flight risk.
One of these prisoners is familiar to Zimbabweans, especially in opposition politics circles.
His name is Job Sikhala, the MDC Alliance vice-chairperson who was arrested on allegations of communicating falsehoods.
Sikhala was arrested on the 9th of January 2021 at the same court when he had come to offer legal assistance to investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono who had been arrested a day before and charged with communicating falsehoods.
Just like Sikhala and Chin’ono, on the 11th of January MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was also arrested on the same charges.
Mahere was freed on bail, on Monday the 18th of January 2021
Chin’ono was also freed on bail on the 27th of January 2021 while Sikhala was released on bail on the 1st of February this year.
The trio are accused of using their Twitter handles to spread false information. They allegedly spread falsehoods that a child was killed by a police officer during skirmishes with illegal minibus drivers in Harare’s central business district on the 5th of January 2021.
The post by the three followed a video, which was circulated on social media by many users, shows a mother manhandling a cop asking why he had beaten up his child who was hanging helplessly in her arms.
The child allegedly died.
However, the Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi denied the claims.
“The child is not dead as alleged on social media and this has been confirmed by medical personnel who are now in touch with the police and parents,” he said.
The law under which the trio were arrested was outlawed by the Constitutional Court led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba back in 2014.
In his ruling, Malaba said, “government is prohibited from appointing itself as a monitor of truth for people.”
This is the third time that Chin’ono has been arrested in a period of six months.
He spent 45 days in remand prison on charges of inciting people to commit violence and another 17 days on charges of obstructing the course of justice.
Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe Chapter official Nqaba Matshazi told Ubuntu Times that it was quite strange that people were still being arrested for publishing falsehoods in the 21st century.
“Publishing falsehoods is an effective tool in a dictators’ tool box. It is easy for dictators to use such laws to descend on political opponents,” he said.
Matshazi said there is no need to criminalize publication of falsehoods.
“When a journalist lies. It is the journalist who loses his or her credibility. There is no need to criminalize the offense. There is a norm of retracting and issuing apologies,” he said.
Media Alliance of Zimbabwe programs manager Nigel Nyamutumbu said arresting citizens on account of peddling falsehoods is unsustainable and amounts to criminalization of freedom of expression, and by extension journalism.
“Government should walk the talk in respect of reforms and be consistent on the same. It is an act of hypocrisy to, one hand purport to be repealing draconian laws such as [Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act] AIPPA during the day, while at night resuscitating dead laws as a means of targeting political opponents, muzzling journalists, criminalizing expression and crushing dissent,” he said.
In a related case, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume had been languishing in prison since 2020 after he was arrested on allegations of tampering with a witness in another case involving abuse of office for which he was already out on bail.
Mafume was released on bail on the 15th of January after his lawyers had several times unsuccessfully requested he be granted bail so that he can get treatment at a health facility of his choice as he was ill.
The list of people arrested in the past months for inciting violence is cumulative.
University of Zimbabwe student Allan Moyo (23) is also in prison after getting arrested on the 7th of December 2020 and charged with inciting people to revolt against Mnangagwa’s government.
Moyo has been denied bail several times.
In a statement, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Clifford Hlatywayo said his party strongly condemned the continued abuse of justice institutions through the arrests of Mahere, Mafume, Chin’ono, Moyo and other wrongly convicted prisoners that include Last Maingehama and Tungamirirai Madzokere.
He said the government is abusing State institutions by continuously persecuting opposition leaders and human rights defenders.
“The arrest pertaining to non-existing crimes represents dictatorial rule, severe abuse of power and an attack on the rule of law. Persecution through prosecution reflects authoritarian consolidation rather than democratization,” he said.
There have been allegations of judiciary capture in Zimbabwe with Mnangagwa himself allegedly calling the shots from his office.
In October 2020, judges wrote a letter to Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, claiming that the judiciary was under siege and judges were captured thereby unable to independently execute their duties without interference from the executive and State agencies.
“What is repeated in the public domain and on social media about the capture of the judiciary is no longer fiction or perception, it is in fact reality. It is an open secret that right across the judicial structure, the Chief Justice now rules without a fetter,” reads part of the letter.
“Where magistrates used to be subject to administrative supervision by their superiors, it is now an open secret that the Chief Justice now routinely interferes with magistrates and their decisions through the Chief Magistrates’ office.”
Human rights defender Musa Kika told Ubuntu Times that the arrests simply provided the latest evidence in what has become a clear pattern of manipulating the judicial system to silence and eliminate dissent.
“Chin’ono, Mahere and Sikhala are perceived leaders in dissent, and their arrest is meant to dissuade others from speaking ill against the regime,” he said.
Kika said as the norm the goal is never to convict them but to punish them through prolonged pre-trial incarceration and the harassment they endure in the process.
Even some people who are publicly perceived to be supporters of Mnangagwa are beginning to be critical of his administration.
In a statement, media mogul and member of Mnangagwa’s advisory council Trevor Ncube said the attack on Chin’ono’s rights to freedom of expression limits the rights of citizens to know what is going on in Zimbabwe.
He said the response of the State should be to set the record straight, not to arrest or harass those who express themselves freely.