Zimbabwe Union Of Journalist {ZUJ} has vowed to continuously push and engage with the government to enact laws which will foster stiffer penalties to those who harass members of the media.
As journalists detention and harassment continues in the country, the media representative body insisted that the laws they are advocating for to be enacted by government will protect journalists against police officers and members of the public who disturb and interfere with the work of media practitioners.
In a statement where it was marking the international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists with the rest of the world today, ZUJ said:
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, ZUJ joins the rest of the world in making the international Day to end Impunity for crimes against journalists.
These commemorations comes against continued operating challenges faced by journalists in the country especially in the unprecedented Covid-19 predicament.
Journalist covering the coronavirus not only battled with the risk of contagion, they also faced numerous obstructions.
It is in this light that ZUJ is bound to agree with suggestions by the survey respondents that part of the solution to end this impunity for crimes against journalists may lie with the enactment of “stiff” penalties to “punish” police officers and other members of the public who harass journalists.
However, ZUJ sentiments came after reports say that earlier this year a lot of journalist faced various obstructions of freedom of movement especially in the Covid-19 strict lockdown period as well as arrests and intimidation by police officers in their day to day operations.
Earlier this year media practitioners like Hopewell Chinon’o also suffered from police misconduct when he was arrested during the Covid-19 lockdown period hence the move by ZUJ to advocate for stiffer penalties on anyone who obstruct the operations of journalist will enable freedom of expression, efficient dissemination of information and foster the development of democratic values
