On 21 September 2018, the police briefly detained Pauline Chateuka for filming police officers as they arrested vendors around the Copacabana bus terminus in Harare. Police detained Chateuka despite the fact that she was visibly wearing her press card. According to Chateuka, once police officers noticed that she was using a video camera to record the events, one officer ran up to her and pushed her into a nearby police lorry with his rifle butt. She was released an estimated 10 minutes later with no charges laid against her In the meantime, Chateuka had been separated from her colleague Joseph Andras. Andras was accosted by riot police who demanded the deletion of footage from his cellphone. He refused to delete the footage arguing that he was a duly accredited journalist. Chateuka and Andras are reporters with Community Radio Harare, a local community radio initiative. In a similar incident, police officers briefly detained New Zimbabwe editor Gilbert Nyambavhu on 19 September 2018. Nyambavhu was taking pictures of the police during their raid on vendors in Harare. He was detained in the company of his colleague Idah Mhetu. More still needs to be done to ensure journalists conduct their lawful professional duties without hindrance as the profession is critical to the free flow of information that enables citizens to participate in governance issues. Journalists’ safety and security The safety and security of journalists is of paramount importance and steps should be taken to domesticate the United Nations Plan of Action on Journalists Safety and the Issue of Impunity. This plan of action contains three fundamental principles that can be summarised as the Three Ps. The first P refers to Policies that governments must put in place to promote journalist’ safety. Such policies come in different forms and may include government statements condemning crimes against journalists and government policy frameworks that put measures that promote the safety of journalists. The second P refers to the Protection of journalists in moments of immediate crisis. Such interventions can be sponsored by either the State or civil organisations. For example, MISA Zimbabwe has a mobile phone Application such as the JournoSOS App and the Media Defence Fund to provide emergency assistance to distressed journalists. Lastly, there should be Procurement of justice, which simply means that alleged crimes against journalists are investigated and prosecuted as seriously as any other crimes. The United Nations 11