*💎NEWS UPDATES* *THE HEADLINES* *Blessed Mhlanga: Why his arrest is unlawful and State-facilitated abduction* *Journalism is not a crime, but looting national resources surely is! Mbofana* *Chamisa: Blessed Mhlanga’s Arrest A Blow To Human Rights And Press Freedom* *Economy at critical juncture: Economists* *Half of stock sold in Zimbabwean tuck shops are fake goods – ministry official* *OK Zimbabwe Sacks Senior Executives: Zireva returns as OK Zimbabwe CEO* *Air Zimbabwe chartered flight evacuates wounded soldiers from DRC* *Battle for the Tech Metals: What Are the 17 Rare Earth Elements and What Are They Used For?* Follow this channel https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VazsRoJ65yD96wtt3k0D *THE DETAILS WITH IGNITE MEDIA ZIMBABWE* _*Blessed Mhlanga: Why his arrest is unlawful and State-facilitated abduction*_ The recent move by Zimbabwe police of ‘taking’ Mr Blessed Mhlanga, a well-known journalist, into custody without following due process is and ought to be understood for what it is. That move, at the very least, can be said to be an unlawful arrest and, at the very worst, it is and should be understood as a State-facilitated abduction! By definition, abduction is the act of taking someone away by force or deception; which is precisely the case here. The said Mr Mhlanga was taken by force, under the guise of bogus charges which do not hold even an ounce water (deception). In circumstances where a journalist conducts an interview with a person of interest, the journalist cannot be held responsible for the views of the interviewee. Secondly, and more interestingly, the said Mr Mhlanga is not an independent journalist; he is not the owner of the said media house. He is merely an agent of the company, who was acting in the course of his employment. As such, it does not follow that he can personally be liable for the alleged wrongful conduct on behalf of the media house he is employed by. The principle of vicarious liability immediately kicks in under these circumstances. In furtherance of the above, there are directors, persons who signed off on the production and broadcasting of the said interview and, against that back drop, a question has to be asked – are they also being prosecuted? If the answer that question is not in the affirmative then, surely, the charges cannot be said to be genuine and or a bona fide investigation leading to a just outcome; they are simply bogus. Another point or consideration; an arrest on the basis that the interviewee shared some opinions which may have been a breach of certain acts in the criminal codification posses brings to surface the fact that the rule of law isn’t necessarily adhered to in the said jurisdiction. It is a well-known and established principle of law that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. And, if we are to be true to this principle, it does not follow that, a journalist can be arrested on suspicion that the interviewee shared opinions that may be argued to have been incitement of violence and or undermining the office of the President. The State’s averement would be that the journalist amplified remarks by the interviewee and, in so doing, can be said to have aided and abetted the accused. However, before the interviewer is even considered for liability, there needs to be a determination on the question of whether or not the remarks made by his guest where in, and of themselves, criminal in nature. A decision has to be made by a competent court of law. In circumstances where that determination has NOT been made, any proceedings against the journalist are, at the very least, premature and lack any basis at law and hence the assertion – State-facilitated abduction! The fact that an abduction has been made by State agents using State resources and hiding behind the law does not, in fact, change what this is- it is still an abduction. It remains an abduction and should be addressed and understood as such. To call this an arrest sanitises and legitimises the said abduction. There is no basis at law for this so-called ‘arrest’. Journalism is not a crime, an unlawful arrest as a means to intimidate the journalist is accurately called an abduction. In opposing ‘bail’, or in refusing to do the right thing, the State incompetently argued that Mr Mhlanga could not be released on bail on the basis that, inter alia, the equipment used has not been ceased. Therefore, the likelihood of him committing similar offences is high. What the State immured in its arguments is the fact that, the said equipment does not belong to the journalist but is the property of the company he works for. This argument exposes the fact that, the aim of opposing bail is not a bona fide objection in the interest of justice but rather selective persecution of the journalist. Firstly, if the equipment is out there and the concern is he may have access to it, why not order the company to restrict him from access to the said equipment? Secondly, the argument that he may interfere with potential witnesses who are his junior colleagues further proves he acted in the course of his employment and the absence of any claims by his employer that he acted outside the ambit of his employment further solidifies the fact that he acted in the course of his employment and if there is any case to answer then the company is answerable. This misplaced and overzealous persecution of a journalist is one example of malicious prosecution to instil fear into all journalists. Release Blessed Mhlanga! We condemn State-facilitated abductions!! Sound of Justice!! Delaney Phiri lecturer at the University of London. _*Journalism is not a crime, but looting national resources surely is! Mbofana*_ ON Monday, February 24, 2025, Blessed Mhlanga, a senior journalist with Alpha Media Holdings, handed himself over to the Zimbabwe Republic Police at Harare Central Police Station. Hours later, he found himself behind bars, detained in a cell with hanging ceilings, no bedding, and scant access to food or water—conditions his lawyer, Chris Mhike, described as inhumane. Mhlanga’s alleged crime? Doing his job. The state claims that by recording and reporting on press conferences held by Zanu PF central committee member Blessed Geza and fellow war veterans on January 27 and February 11, Mhlanga incited violence. Geza, a vocal critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, had demanded the president’s resignation over rampant corruption and governance failures. Now, as Mhlanga languishes in remand prison awaiting a bail hearing on February 27, the absurdity of his persecution lays bare a chilling truth: in Zimbabwe, journalism is treated as a greater threat than the systematic looting of the nation’s wealth. This arrest is not just an attack on one man; it is a blatant assault on press freedom, a right enshrined in Zimbabwe’s own Constitution and upheld by international law. Section 61 of the Zimbabwean Constitution guarantees every person the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information. Likewise, Section 62 protects access to information, a cornerstone of a functioning democracy. On the global stage, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights echo these principles, affirming that journalists like Mhlanga are not criminals but vital cogs in the machinery of accountability. Yet, here he sits, accused of transmitting “data messages inciting violence” for merely documenting Geza’s words. The irony is staggering: the state alleges Mhlanga intended to spark unrest, yet it was not he who called for Mnangagwa’s resignation or urged Zimbabweans to take to the streets. That was Geza, a war veteran and ruling party insider. Mhlanga’s role was that of a conduit, a professional tasked with informing the public—an employee of Heart and Soul TV, which broadcast the press conferences, not a rogue agitator with a personal manifesto. Chris Mhike told Harare chief magistrate Farai Gwatima on Tuesday that Mhlanga has no case to answer. He is not a terrorist, Mhike argued, nor a threat to national security. He is a journalist fulfilling his duty to report the news, not to shape it. If anything, this overreach exposes the state’s desperation to silence dissent, even when it comes through the neutral lens of a camera or the impartial stroke of a pen. By targeting Mhlanga, the government tramples on the very freedoms it claims to uphold, sending a chilling message to every journalist in Zimbabwe: speak the truth at your peril. The ramifications of this arrest extend far beyond one man’s plight. It casts a long shadow over media freedom and freedom of expression in a country already reeling from a history of intimidation, arrests, and violence against journalists. In 2002, Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota was arrested multiple times for exposing corruption. In 2011, freelance journalist Andrison Manyere was tortured after documenting human rights abuses. More recently, in 2020, Hopewell Chin’ono was detained for weeks over his reporting on COVID-19 procurement scandals. These are not isolated incidents but part of a pattern—a systematic effort to muzzle the press and stifle accountability. Mhlanga’s arrest will only deepen this climate of fear, pushing journalists to self-censor or abandon their craft altogether. Zimbabwe’s international standing, already battered by a dismal ranking on the World Press Freedom Index—126 out of 180 in 2024—will sink further. Foreign investors, democratic allies, and human rights watchdogs will take note, and the nation’s reputation as a pariah state will harden. This persecution stands in stark contrast to President Mnangagwa’s own words. Just last week, he met with editors at State House, reaffirming his commitment to media freedom. “A free press is the lifeblood of democracy,” he reportedly said, pledging to foster an environment where journalists could work without fear. Yet, days later, Mhlanga was locked up, his bail application deferred, his dignity stripped away in a pest-infested cell. The hypocrisy is galling. If the government’s commitment was genuine, Mhlanga would be free, not treated as a criminal for covering a story that displeased the powerful. Instead, the authority’s actions reveal a grim reality: in Zimbabwe, press freedom is a privilege dangled before the media, only to be snatched away when the truth cuts too close to the bone. While the state fixates on silencing journalists, a far graver threat festers unchecked: the rampant corruption and looting of Zimbabwe’s national resources. This is the real crime, one that bleeds the nation dry while the powerful feast on its spoils. The smuggling of precious minerals—gold, diamonds, lithium—costs Zimbabwe billions annually. The 2023 Al Jazeera documentary Gold Mafia exposed this rot in vivid detail, revealing how politically connected elites orchestrate the illicit trade with impunity. One figure, Uebert Angel, boasted of laundering millions through gold smuggling, enabled by his ties to the ruling clique. Another, Kamlesh Pattni, detailed how officials turn a blind eye as tons of gold vanish across borders. These revelations were not anomalies but symptoms of a systemic plunder that has enriched a few while impoverishing millions. Beyond smuggling, corruption thrives in opaque deals and dubious tenders. Multimillion-dollar contracts—whether for road construction, power plants, or agricultural inputs—routinely go to cronies of the ruling elite, often at inflated costs or with little to show for it. The Mutapa Investment Fund, Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, exemplifies this opacity. Recently shielded from parliamentary oversight, it has become a potential slush fund for the well-connected, its operations cloaked in secrecy. With no transparency, the risk of looting is not hypothetical but inevitable. These acts of graft siphon resources that could rebuild a crumbling nation, leaving its people to bear the cost. That cost is devastatingly clear. Over 80% of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line, scraping by on less than $2 a day. Hunger stalks the land, with the World Food Programme estimating that 5.7 million people faced food insecurity in 2024—a number likely worsened by drought and economic collapse. Healthcare has crumbled, with hospitals lacking basic drugs and equipment; maternal mortality rates remain among the highest in the region. Education, once a point of pride, is in free fall—schools lack books, teachers strike over paltry wages, and dropout rates soar. This is the legacy of corruption: a nation robbed of its future while its leaders point fingers at journalists like Mhlanga. Compounding this economic devastation is the unchecked plunder by foreign entities, particularly Chinese-owned mining companies. These firms flout Zimbabwean laws with abandon, forcibly evicting communities from ancestral lands, leaving behind environmental wreckage—polluted rivers, scarred landscapes—and exploiting workers with paltry wages and brutal conditions. Reports abound of companies exporting raw lithium, despite a government ban, and undervaluing revenues to cheat Zimbabwe out of billions. Why does this persist? Because top officials and their allies allegedly hold stakes in these operations, rendering the culprits untouchable. Some Chinese investors even brag of their invincibility, citing ties to ZANU-PF as a shield against accountability. The government’s silence is deafening, its blind eye a betrayal of the people it claims to serve. This is the true security threat to Zimbabwe—not a journalist recording a press conference, but a kleptocracy that has turned the nation’s wealth into a private piggy bank. The economic devastation wrought by corruption and looting has plunged millions into unimaginable poverty, stripped away dignity, and extinguished hope. Blessed Mhlanga’s arrest is a distraction, a scapegoating of a man whose only crime was to shine a light on the powerful. If the state truly cared about justice, it would pursue the smugglers, the tender barons, the mining magnates—not a reporter armed with nothing but a camera and a notepad. Zimbabwe stands at a crossroads. It can continue to persecute those who expose its flaws, or it can confront the real enemy within: the looters who have bled it dry. Freeing Mhlanga would be a start—a signal that the government values truth over tyranny. But true redemption lies in dismantling the networks of corruption that have held the nation hostage for too long. Journalism is not a crime, but looting national resources surely is. It’s time Zimbabwe’s leaders acted like it. _*Chamisa: Blessed Mhlanga’s Arrest A Blow To Human Rights And Press Freedom*_ Former MDC and CCC president Nelson Chamisa has condemned the arrest of Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) senior journalist, Blessed “Dhara” Mhlanga, by police on Monday. Mhlanga was remanded in custody on Tuesday by Harare Magistrate Farai Gwatima, pending a ruling on his bail application, which is set for Thursday. The journalist faces two charges under Section 164 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly transmitting data messages that incite violence. Both charges relate to “public violence” and stem from interviews Mhlanga conducted with Blessed Geza, an outspoken liberation war veteran and ZANU PF central committee member, on January 27 and February 11, 2025. Chamisa has described Mhlanga’s arrest as a flagrant violation of fundamental freedoms, human rights, press freedom, and democracy. He said: The arrest of journalist Blessed Mhlanga is a flagrant violation of fundamental freedoms and human rights. This arrest is an affront to civilisation, press freedom and democracy. Journalism is the oxygen that thrives society. A free press is the lifeblood of a progressive and functional modern society. Section 61 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution guarantees freedom of the media; this right must be upheld! The first indicator that those in government have turned against the people is in the targeting of journalists as conveyors of information and news. Journalism as a profession must be protected. _*Economy at critical juncture: Economists*_ ECONOMISTS have warned that the economy is at a critical juncture, requiring stability through predictable policies, controlled inflation and a stable currency that fosters confidence among businesses and individuals. The warning comes as businesses are choking with some opting for corporate rescue while others are closing branches due to high taxation, poor utility service delivery, exchange rate volatility and policy inconsistency. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s plan to foster stability in the economy involves policy strategy focusing on price, currency and exchange rate stability. “Confidence is built over time when businesses and individuals see consistency in economic policies. Stability means predictable policies, controlled inflation and a currency that holds its value,” economist Chenayimoyo Mutambasere told NewsDay Business. “The issue of a multicurrency must be addressed. Having a local currency now hardly seems to be the right thing to do especially given the country is a net importer with dwindling reserves. Policy thrust must be focused on stability first.” She proposed addressing the multicurrency issue, focusing on stability, controlling money supply growth without causing a cash crunch and ensuring government borrowing was not inflationary. Mutambasere said there was need for a true market-determined exchange rate and called for a more transparent foreign exchange system to reduce speculation and volatility. Economist Stevenson Dhlamini echoed Mutambasere sentiments, saying most Zimbabweans collective memory of economic trauma “requires extended periods of stability to overcome”. “The government should prioritise monetary discipline (money supply growth), fiscal discipline (low budget deficits) and institutional framework strengthening to foster confidence.” He said the central bank was trying to stabilise prices, protect the currency’s value and manage exchange rates. “I recommend interest rate targeting with clear forward guidance and open market operations calibrated to local market conditions that the bank honours timeously to bring price stability,” Dhlamini said. “For currency stability measures, I recommend a structured de-dollarisation programme (similar to Peru’s model), building foreign exchange reserves and a clear communication strategy to create a buy-in.” For exchange rate stability, he called for a managed float system. Economist Vince Musewe said politics played a role in ensuring economic stability. “We must, however, remember that monetary policy is only part of a cocktail of measures that builds confidence. Politics also plays a significant role,” he said. “Stability is about the value of money, yes, but also about consistent policies, effective leadership and accountability, transparency, rule of law and fighting corruption.” _*Half of stock sold in Zimbabwean tuck shops are fake goods – ministry official*_ Nearly 50 percent of groceries seized from tuck shops and vending stalls during the ongoing blitz against counterfeit and smuggled goods in Zimbabwe have been tested to be fake and a potential health hazard, a top official with the country’s industry ministry has told parliament. Giving oral evidence before Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce on Tuesday, chief director for commerce in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Douglas Runyowa said the proliferation of counterfeit products in Zimbabwe has reached alarming levels. “Most of what we have seen in the informal sector is quite shocking, and in our awareness programmes, we are saying it might be cheap but it’s coming at an expense to your health, because we cannot guarantee what is not there. “Our health authorities have not certified some of those goods safe and fit for human consumption, hence we really need to intensify our efforts through an all-stakeholder approach and its a fight that would also be needed for our portfolio committee to help us intensify, because really what is out there is quite scary,” he said. Runyowa told the legislators that a recent survey conducted by the ministry revealed that 50 percent of goods sold in informal retail shops do not meet the required standards. “I would like to, not to scare you, but to advise you that we recently carried out a survey with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe where we went and bought products from the shelf and took them for testing and compared what was written in the results; 50 percent of the products did not comply. You can actually see fake Vaseline, fake flour, fake rice, fake toothpaste, and this is an alarming rate,” he said. The ministry official said the blitz, which began last year, has been successful. “You will be aware that over the last quarter, going back to October, there has been intensified blitz against counterfeit goods, against smuggled goods, so much so that even this afternoon we are actually destroying about four tonnes of goods that were actually confiscated during that practice, to ensure that we remove them from the shelves, because we cannot guarantee our people that they are actually consuming safe goods,” he said. He appealed for parliament’s support in the fight the rot. “We want to also join hands with you in this particular fight, which we have really intensified from our side as a ministry,” he said. The proliferation of both informal traders of groceries and the products themselves has seen formal retail shops such as big supermarket chains suffer business losses as locals turn to the spaza shops to acquire their goods. Some of the retail shops have since closed shop or reduced their operations following competition from the informal sector. _*OK Zimbabwe Sacks Senior Executives: Zireva returns as OK Zimbabwe CEO*_ OK Zimbabwe Limited has dismissed its senior executives and brought back former managers to guide the company through a major business review and restructuring. Willard Zireva, who retired in 2017, has returned, along with Alex Siyavora, who led the company until 2021. They will lead OK Zimbabwe temporarily during this period of change. This follows the recent closure of four OK Zimbabwe stores and ongoing stock shortages, highlighting struggles in the retail sector. The company announced these changes in a statement dated February 26, 2025, from Company Secretary Margaret Munyuru. The executives who have left the company include CEO Maxen Phillip Karombo, CFO Phillimon Mushosho, and Supply Chain Director Knox Mupaya. The new leadership appointments are: CEO Willard Vimbai Zireva, CFO Alex Edgar Siyavora, and Supply Chain Director Muzvidzwa Richard Chingaira. Added Munyuru: The Board would like to acknowledge the outgoing Executive team for their service through this challenging period and to welcome back the team reposed with the remit to stabilise and turn the business around over the next six months whilst the Company engages in the process to identify the executive replacements. _*Air Zimbabwe chartered flight evacuates wounded soldiers from DRC*_ Zimbabweans were left beaming with pride after it emerged that an Air Zimbabwe plane carried injured South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers evacuated from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) back home. On Tuesday, 25 February, South Africa welcomed two groups of injured soldiers returning from the eastern DRC. The soldiers were part of a peacekeeping mission. Air Zimbabwe Carries Injured SANDF Soldiers Back Home from DRC Award-winning Zimbabwean journalist and anti-corruption activist Hopewell Chin’ono took to his verified X (formerly Twitter) account to share that an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200 transported soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania, and Malawi back to their home countries. “Today, an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200 carried injured South African soldiers, as well as Tanzanian and Malawian troops who were in the DRC, back home from Kigali to their respective countries,” he posted. Chin’ono explained that the aircraft operated as a chartered plane under Mont Gabon Airlines, flying with the call sign FSK150. “Flying under the call sign FSK150, the plane dropped the Tanzanian soldiers first before heading to Malawi and then South Africa. It is a charter aircraft out of Kinshasa, leased to Mont Gabon Airlines,” he added. Chin’ono explained the route the plane took from DRC to the three countries. “The flight was used as Shuttle Ambulance Service as it had injured soldiers from Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa. The soldiers were first moved from Goma to Kigali, as Goma is a no-go area for planes due to the military tension,” he said. Today, an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200 carried injured South African soldiers, as well as Tanzanian and Malawian troops who were in the DRC, back home from Kigali to their respective countries. Pride and Questions as Air Zimbabwe Assists In the comments, Zimbabweans beamed with pride while others questioned if anyone had benefitted financially. A section of South Africans claimed this was not a free ride for the injured soldiers and that their government had paid millions. Here are some of the reactions: @LBusisani: Something to be proud of as Zimbabweans., being able to lend a hand of help others as they do to us . @mukuru1010: Well , finally a positive thing chataitawo pa stage @okaNjabz: Then you hear the xenophobes screaming and shouting, calling us names… WE HAVE A HEART. @Makanditig52604: If I read properly leased to meaning someone making money pocketing it so now Zim doesn’t have air craft under it’s name at least it’s still have Zim flag. My question is who is benefiting in this situation. May u please investigate @mawarirej tiudzeiwo @Derrick_67: I still ask as to why Zimbabwean troops didn’t deploy as part of SAMIDRC? They did the same with the SAMIM deployment to Mozambique. This is not a free flight? Millions have been paid. _*Battle for the Tech Metals: What Are the 17 Rare Earth Elements and What Are They Used For?*_ Whether it’s Greenland, Ukraine, West Africa or East Asia, rare earths are an element of the global geopolitical competition hiding just below the surface. What are the rare earth elements, where are they concentrated, and what are their major uses? Check out our explainer for a detailed breakdown. Basic Facts Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 silvery-white soft heavy metals, mostly consisting of the lanthanides, a family of 15 elements grouped together in the Periodic Table, plus scandium and yttrium, which have similar chemical properties and are often found in deposits alongside the others. Despite their name, rare earths aren’t especially rare, with one of the rarest – lutetium, some 200 times more common than gold. Rather, what makes the resources rare is finding them in large, easy-to-find and mine clusters. Rare Earths and Their Uses Lanthanum (La): Used in nickel-metal hydride batteries for hybrid vehicles, lighting, camera lenses and other special glass, and as a catalyst for petroleum refining. Cerium (Ce): Added to an array of alloys for increased strength and corrosion protection, magnets, for burn treatments, glass polishing agents, lightbulbs and household wares including ceramics. Praseodymium (Pr): Key component for aircraft engine-grade high-strength alloys, powerful magnets (including for use in wind turbines), tough didymium glass, and fiberoptic cables. Neodymium (Nd): Used for everything from magnetotherapy to magnetic motors, microwave communications, microphones, headphones, loudspeakers, hard drives, automotive electronics, fluorescent and energy-saving lamps and lasers. Promethium (Pm): Key component for luminous paint, portable X-rays, and atomic batteries for critical electronics, from the military and aerospace to pacemakers. Samarium (Sm): Active ingredient in a popular cancer-cell killing agent; used in combination with other elements in magnets, lasers and nuclear reactor control rods for neutron absorption. Europium (Eu): Another excellent neutron absorber, as well as a red phosphor for TVs, blue colour in LEDs, and therapeutics tool. Gadolinium (Gd): Active ingredient for MRI drugs. Also used in nuclear propulsion systems, metallurgy, microwave and magnetic refrigeration. Terbium (Tb): Key tool for chemical screening; green phosphor for TVs and monitors, used in lighting, military grade sonar and other sensors. Dysprosium (Dy): Used to make powerful permanent magnets, lasers and lighting, electric drive motors for EVs and wind turbines, transducers, resonators, and dosimeters for measuring ionizing radiation. Holmium (Ho): Another neutron-absorber useful for radioimmunotherapy, magnets, as well as optics, microwave, medical, dental and laser surgery equipment. Erbium (Er): Added to lasers and optics used in medicine, as well as optical communications, with strong neutron-absorbing qualities. Also useful for chemical analysis and crystal growth. Thulium (Tm): Used in military and industrial-grade lasers, as a source of radiation for portable X-rays, for meteorology and high-temperature superconducting tools, and popular anti-counterfeiting agent. Ytterbium (Yb): Key element in X-ray components, memory devices, tunable lasers, amps and displays; metal-strengthening component and burnable poison for controlling nuclear reactions. Lutetium (Lu): Used in petroleum refining, polymerization, lithography, tomography, as a phosphor for some light bulbs. Also used for tumour treatment, and to build the world’s most accurate atomic clocks. Scandium (Sc): Key ingredient for high-grade lightweight alloys for everything from military and commercial aircraft to sporting equipment, small arms, high-intensity discharge lamps, dentistry, and as an oil refinery tracing agent. Yttrium (Y): Another metal-strengthening alloy. Also used for high-temperature superconducting, a surprising array of medical applications (from drug labelling and cancer treatment to surgical needles) as deoxidizer and nodulizer, the red colour in cathode ray tubes, radar and synthetic gems.