By Nhamo Taneta
When President Emmerson Mnangagwa once declared, “We are the army, the police, and the judiciary,” very few took him seriously.
To his credit, those words are now being fulfilled.
For those who gathered in court on Friday in solidarity with journalist Blessed Mhlanga, hopes of his bail being granted evaporated swiftly as magistrate Farai Gwatima dismissed his bid for freedom.
The message from “Trabablas” is unmistakable: “Mess with me and rot in pre-trial detention.”
Mhlanga’s gravest “crime” was amplifying the voice of Blessed Geza, a man who labeled Trabablas a “monster” and a “Korokoza.”
Now, Mhlanga faces persecution for Geza’s alleged sins.
Humiliating the First Lady, ‘Dr.’ Auxillia Mnangagwa, by exposing her alleged $US60 million nhodo (political patronage) national tours was bound to provoke retribution.
As a patriotic journalist in the mold of state-aligned outlets like The Herald and ZBC, Mhlanga was never meant to publish such revelations.
President Ruka Chivende, a self-proclaimed constitutionalist, casually disregards clauses in the 2013 constitution, inserted by “Western-sponsored” opposition forces.
Yet, expecting a man who ordered the killings of civilians on 1 August 2018 to respect constitutional guarantees of media freedom and free expression is naïveté of the highest order.
Who doesn’t know that Mnangagwa’s “beloved son,” Wicknell Chivhayo, is untouchable?
Trabablas enforces an unspoken creed “Touch not my corrupt ones.”
In the Second Republic, corruption is sacrosanct.
Anyone who dares to expose it, whether journalist or citizen, faces prosecution and prolonged pre-trial detention.
