Zimbabwe

President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a bill into law that places new restrictions on Zimbabwean health workers’ right to strike. Amongst other things, the Health Service Amendment Act prevents health workers from striking for longer than 72 hours, either continuously or over a two-week period, and requires them to provide written notice 48 hours before a strike begins. Those who breach these provisions can be imprisoned for up to six months, a penalty that commentators have suggested is unusually stiff. The International Trade Union Confederation has described the law as draconian and asserted that the sanctions it imposes are contrary to freedom of expression and freedom of association. In recent years, Zimbabwe’s increasingly beleaguered healthcare system has been put under strain by frequent and long-strikes by health workers demanding improvements in working conditions.            

Freedom of Expression Freedom of Association and Assembly Strike

Zimbabwean security agencies’ assault, detention and obstruction of five journalists in less than a week, marked an escalation in the harassment of journalists by state authorities as the country prepares for elections in 2023. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), an advocacy group, says that approximately 30 journalists have been subject to such treatment in 2022. In all five incidents, the journalists were trying to cover public interest events. While an escalation in journalist harassment in the build up to elections is common in Zimbabwe, the director of MISA Zimbabwe has said that this election season is promising to be worse than usual for the media. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an NGO, described the increased violence against journalists in the country as “a serious source of concern.” In 2022, Zimbabwe fell 7 places to 37th in the Press Freedom Index, which is published annually by the NGO Reporters without Borders.

Freedom of Expression Personal Integrity and Security Elections

Two journalists became the first to be charged under one of the controversial cybersecurity provisions of Zimbabwe’s Data Protection Act, eight months after its enactment in December 2021. The provision amends the country’s criminal law, so as to make it illegal to transmit what it vaguely terms “false data messages intending to cause harm” and imposes heavy penalties on offenders (a prison sentence of up to five years and/or a fine of up to USD194). The prosecution of the journalists is reported to relate to their investigation of the business activities of politically connected individuals and, according to civil society, confirms their early concerns that the legislation would be used to infringe freedom of expression and the media. The development takes place against a backdrop of escalating government harassment of the media and in 2022, Zimbabwe fell seven places to 137th in the Press Freedom Index, which is published annually by the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders.

Freedom of Expression Censorship