‘It Was Hell on Earth’: Zimbabwean Journalist Blessed Mhlanga on His Imprisonment

📅 Published: August 21, 2025

📰 Source: zimbabwesituation

Curated by AllZimNews.com

While the country’s latest constitution technically guarantees the freedom of expression and media rights, the country typically scores low in global freedom and corruption indexes.

In recent years, according to Reporters Without Borders, Mnangagwa’s government has stepped up efforts to suppress critical voices, including signing a new cybersecurity law that, among other things, makes the online distribution of information deemed false punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.

In July, Faith Zaba, the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, was arrested for “undermining or insulting the authority of the president,” after publishing a satirical opinion column that called Zimbabwe a “mafia state. ” Mnangagwa, who was a close ally of Mugabe, has been seeking to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term, in 2028.

All this has pushed Mhlanga to create a space for critical voices.

In 2022, he and another journalist, Chengeto Chidi, were arrested and had their recording devices damaged while attempting to document the detention of an opposition politician.

Earlier this year, Mhlanga faced a police investigation after he interviewed the political activist Jealousy Mawarire, who alleged that Mnangagwa was engaged in secret efforts to sell a state-owned bank to private investors.

His latest prosecution earned him ten weeks in prison before he was granted provisional release, pending trial.

This conversation, conducted over WhatsApp, has been edited for concision and clarity.

NA: Why do you think the authorities arrested you—and why were you later released?

BM: I would not know the real motives behind my arrest and detention.

Whether it was meant to silence me or instill fear in me, what’s certain is that it achieved the opposite.

I was denied bail three times—twice by the Magistrates Court and once at the High Court.