Zimbabwean court acquits journalist of hostility towards president

A Zimbabwean High Court has acquitted a prominent journalist who spent nearly a year on trial over a satirical article critical of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, her legal team said on Monday.

Faith Zaba, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, was arrested in July 2025 after publishing a column titled “When You Become a Mafia State” in the newspaper’s satirical muckraker section.

Prosecutors charged Zaba with undermining Mnangagwa’s authority, alleging the article was intended to incite hostility towards the 83-year-old president.

The High Court in Harare quashed the charges on Friday, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which represented Zaba, said.

The ruling was issued in chambers, and the parties were awaiting the formal written order.

“The decision gives a lot not just for press freedoms but individual freedoms as well,” ZLHR executive director Bellinda Chinowawa told AFP.

“The police had overstretched the limits of the law.”

Zaba said the ruling ended nearly a year of legal proceedings that included her detention at the dreaded Chikurubi maximum security prison on the outskirts of Harare and numerous court appearances.

“My deepest gratitude to everyone who stood with me, spoke out, prayed, advocated and refused to let me walk alone,” she wrote on X.

– Using laws to silence dissent –

Rights groups and opposition parties have accused Mnangagwa’s government of using criminal laws to silence dissent, an allegation it denies.

Another high-profile journalist, Blessed Mhlanga, was arrested for inciting violence through an interview with a ruling party critic who criticised Mnangagwa and called for his resignation.

Mhlanga fled to exile after being granted bail.

Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 after the military ousted long-time dictator Robert Mugabe.

He was elected president in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, exhausting the two five-year terms permitted under Zimbabwe’s constitution.

Critics accuse Mnangagwa and his allies of seeking to extend his rule beyond 2028.

On Thursday, Zimbabwe’s lower house of parliament passed a constitutional amendment bill that would extend the terms of some elected officials and scrap direct presidential elections.

The bill now heads to the Senate and, if approved, will be sent to Mnangagwa for assent.

Zimbabwe ranks 124th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 106th a year earlier.

AFP