On September 21, a senior reporter for the Zimbabwean newspaper NewsDay was robbed by three individuals while researching a piece on robberies in South Africa.
Journalist from Zimbabwe was robbed in Musina.
Rex Mphisa reportedly went to Musina, the northernmost town in Limpopo, to look into robbery instances in the nearby border region, according to NewsDay. He had a pal with him.
Three individuals brandishing knives approached the reporter and his buddy as they were making their way to local stores and threatened to murder them.
“Three individuals with knives came up to my companion and I. They seized R8,000, two telephones, and shoes after searching my friend’s suitcase, said Mphisa.
The journalists’ tablet, phone, and R120 are also said to have been taken by the criminals. They told us to return to Zimbabwe and handed us back R100 in addition to our passports, he said.
The Zimbabwean journalist stated that the Shona-speaking bandits fled quickly in a BMW car. Investigations are under progress after the South African Police Service (SAPS) was notified of the incident.
Despite being one of the nations where journalists enjoy high levels of media freedom without often fearing for their lives, Corruption Watch stated earlier this year that South African journalists are not secure. However, there is an increase in harassment and cyberbullying, with female journalists taking the brunt of it.
Over the last five years, at least 59 distinct incidences of attacks on journalists—either verbally or physically—while they were at work have been documented by the SA National Editors’ Forum. The primary offenders were the police, political parties and their followers, criminals, and the communities that were the subject of reporting.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) database shows that between 1994 and 2022, at least five journalists were slain in South Africa. The last fatality in 2019 was Thamsanqa Junior Bonase. Although there are questions regarding whether his death was connected to his job, it occurred under unexplained circumstances.