MOZAMBIQUE
FATIMA Mimbire, a female
researcher and human rights
defender received death threats
via Facebook.
The threat began after she

took up an active role in the
Centre for Public Integrity’s
(CIP) campaign against the
Mozambique
government
seeking to repay loans it
acquired illegally and secretly.

FATIMA
Mimbire

There was a smear campaign
aimed at Fátima on social
media in an attempt to further
intimidate her and delegitimise
her work.
The campaign against Mimbire
was vile, with allegations
that she was in inappropriate
relations with funding partners.
Following the threats, the
online
publication,
Club
of Mozambique began an
online petition seeking the
intervention of the country’s
President Felipe Nyusi.
The smear campaign followed
exposure
of
inappropriate
expenditure by the government.
The petition sought to have
the President reiterate his and
the country’s commitment to
freedom of expression and to
ensure Mimbire’s safety.

NAMIBIA
THE NBC journalist Blanche
Goroses suffered violent rape
and murder threats online
following the 2019 general
elections.
Namibia has one of the freest

media environments in the
world and the Goroses case
sparked organisations to take
action.
The Internet Society (Namibia
Chapter) was at the forefront of

BLANCHE
Goreses
14

raising awareness on the issue.
The State of Press Freedom
in Southern Africa Report
also documented a case where
a female journalist reported
incidents where images of
empty coffins were sent to her
on Facebook Messenger after
her newspaper published an
article she wrote.
The ISOC campaign, which
also included female media
workers and celebrities saw
victims of online gender-based
violence
recounting
their
experiences,
with
most
testimonies reflecting on how
the comments were derogatory
about the females’ bodies or
sexuality and this had forced
them to reduce their online
presence.

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