Journalist Blessed Mhlanga to spend 2 more weeks in prison
By Staff Reporter
Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) journalist Blessed Mhlanga has been denied bail by Harare magistrate Farai Gwatima who remanded him in custody until the 14 March 2025.
Mhlanga was arrested on Monday charged with inciting violence through online broadcasts of firebrand war veteran Blessed Geza on the media group’s HSTV channel.
Geza, an ally to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who is seen as harbouring presidential ambitions, has fiercely opposed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s manoeuvres to cling to power under the unpopular ED2030 agenda. Mnangagwa’s term of office ends in 2028.
Because of his blunt rebuke of Mnangagwa, Geza is now being sought by police for allegedly inciting violence and undermining the President.
Meanwhile, journalist Mhlanga pays the price with Friday’s ruling set to confine the scribe behind the high prison walls for two more weeks.
“The release of the accused would put the nation in unrest and undermine peace and security,” Gwatima ruled.
Speaking to journalists outside court, AMH publisher Trevor Ncube condemned the ruling adding that it had been influenced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
“It is saddening, it is heart-breaking, but it was to be expected,” Ncube said.
“The real surprise would have been if the court had seriously applied itself to the case before it.”
Ncube said his senior employee did not say any of the things he is being accused of saying.
“He is not HSTV or AMH. He is simply a journalist practising his profession, which is constitutionally protected,” he said.
The media businessman said the country’s judiciary was operating under President Mnangagwa’s control.
“President Mnangagwa owns the courts. They have said they own the military, they own the police, and they will do as they please. What we saw today is not justice. It is not fair, and it is not supported by our Constitution,” he said.
Ncube, also a journalist, warned that the court ruling was unnecessarily putting journalists at risk.
“It is clear that under these circumstances, you do this job at your own risk. The courts will not protect you; they will side with the regime. But this should not make us afraid. We must continue to do what is right by the law, by our Constitution, and by the public,” he said.
