65 SOUTHERN AFRICA PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2019-2020 — Munashe Chokodza and Leopold Munhende, journalists with 263Chat and NewZimbabwe.com, respectively, who were assaulted with military whips by soldiers at Warren Park shopping centre in Harare for allegedly disobeying lockdown regulations — Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, (151) who was first arrested on 20 July 2020 on allegations of incitement to participate in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of peace or bigotry or alternatively incitement to commit public violence. He was in custody for more than a month and finally granted bail on 2 September 2020 by a High Court judge; but was arrested again in November on charges of obstructing justice. — On 30 July 2020 police raided and ransacked the home of ZimLive editor, Mduduzi Mathuthu in Bulawayo, reportedly looking for information on subversive materials linked to protests and accusing him of using his mobile phone to encourage people to demonstrate. Mathuthu’s nephew, Tawanda Muchehiwa then went missing until 1 August 2020 when he was dropped off at his place of residence with serious injuries after being assaulted by suspected state security agents. (152) Both Chin’ono and Mathuthu had investigated and uncovered alleged corruption in the procurement of Covid-19 equipment. LEGISLATION A myriad of laws that are in violation of the constitution, including the Censorship and Entertainment Controls Act (1967), Official Secrets Act (2004), sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (2004), Interception of Communications Act (2007), have a bearing on citizens’ right to free expression and media freedom. The gazetting of the Cybersecurity and Data Protection Bill has been widely criticised, (153) locally, regionally and internationally for leaning heavily on mass surveillance of citizens as opposed to balancing cybersecurity with the enjoyment of fundamental rights. Remarks by Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Edzai Chimonyo in March 2020, addressing senior military commissioned officers at the Zimbabwe Military Academy in Gweru, that the military would soon start snooping into private communications (154) between citizens to “guard against subversion” as social media has become a threat to national security, are telling in that regard. Among its contentious provisions is the proposed use of forensic tools such as keystroke loggers, with no clarity on how and under what circumstances it would be used; the failure to provide for judicial oversight or other accountability measures for monitoring and reviewing the potential abuse of such intrusive technologies, (155) and that it does not have specific safeguards for whistleblowers which exposes individuals providing information in the public interest. In crafting this Bill, Zimbabwe should be