https://zimbabwe.misa.org Impact of Covid 19 on Media Sustainability have had worse treatment. It is argued that the abduction and torture of 22-year-old journalism student Tawanda Muchehiwa and others is part of a pattern of human rights abuse that has reared its head in the country 93 and a clampdown on freedom of expression reminiscent of or worse than the rule of President Robert Mugabe.94 The assaults and arrests in South Africa have also been seen as representing a deeper problem of an uncaring and corrupt government.95 as a bad precedent for other countries, setting back South Africa’s pro-press freedom laws.97 The regulations were no idle threat, and in April a man was arrested and charged for circulating “a misleading video clip on COVID-19 test kits” in terms of the new regulations.98 Outside of Zimbabwe and South Africa, other countries which are the focus of this research seem not to have experienced the same level of harassment of journalists during the Covid-19 lockdowns – or they have not been documented. Remarkable was that in Zambia the government cancelled the license of private television network Prime TV “ostensibly over the station’s refusal to carry government ads on COVID-19 free of charge” though the accusation is that the real reason was the station’s critical stance towards the government and perceived sympathetic attitude to the opposition.96 Right at the start of the state of disaster in South Africa, the CPJ expressed concern about the South African government’s gazetting of regulations that criminalise disinformation about the pandemic, although they “allow for prosecution only of malicious falsehoods about COVID-19”. The CPJ’s Quintal saw the regulations The CPJ pointed to the joint statement by the UN Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye, and his counterparts in the Americas and Europe. The statement on combating false Covid information, in the carefully worded and diplomatic language of multinational bodies, condemned criminalisation of dis- and misinformation and pleaded instead of governments rather providing reliable information.99 Would this injunction were heeded. Illustrating how outlying “fake news” laws can be misused, the Zimbabwe government charged Lovemore Zvokusekwa at the end of April for circulating a letter by President Mnangag wa falsely purporting, according to the president, to extend the lockdown. The charge was for “’Publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state as defined in section 31 (a) (i) of the Criminal law (Codification and reform) act Chapter 9:23’” and the crime attracted a 20-year jail sentence. As it happened the letter turned out to be true. Zvokusekwa was detained for 93. Kudzai Mashininga, “The Brutal Abduction That Was Caught on Camera,” The Continent, September 12, 2020. 94. Fidelis Mbah, “Zimbabwe Activists Decry ‘Unprecedented Clampdown’ after Arrests,” Al Jazeera, August 8, 2020, https://www. aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/8/zimbabwe-activists-decry-unprecedented-clampdown- after-arrests. 95. Jacques Marais, “Covid-19 Personal Experience: SANDF and Police’s Violent Easter Gift to Masiphumelele,” Daily Maverick, April 10, 2020, https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-10-sandf-and-polices-violent- easter-gift-to-masiphumelele/. 96Ilkka, “Growing Press Freedom Violations in Africa amid COVID-19.” 97. CPJ, “South Africa Enacts Regulations Criminalizing ‘Disinformation’ on Coronavirus Outbreak,” Committee to Protect Journalists (blog), March 19, 2020, https://cpj.org/2020/03/south-africa-enacts-regulations- criminalizing-disi/. 98. Phumla Williams, “Government Welcomes Arrest of Suspect Who Peddled Fake News on Coronavirus COVID-19 Test Kits | South African Government,” South African Government, April 7, 2020, https://www.gov.za/speeches/ government-welcomes-arrest-suspect-who-peddled-fake-news-coronavirus- covid-19-test-kits-7. 99. CPJ, “South Africa Enacts Regulations Criminalizing ‘Disinformation’ on Coronavirus Outbreak.” 27