The Zimbabwe Online Content Creators (ZOCC) has reported podcaster Owen Madondo, popularly known as DJ Ollah 7, to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) for allegedly barring journalists and independent content creators from covering the funeral of the late businessman Wicknell Chivayo.
In a statement, ZOCC said it received several complaints alleging that Madondo was instructing security personnel to remove or block accredited journalists and online creators from the funeral proceedings, while allowing his own production crew and selected state media outlets to operate.
The association described the alleged conduct as “highly unprofessional and obstructive” and accused Madondo of trying to monopolise coverage of an event of significant public interest.
“ZOCC condemns these actions in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “This conduct represents a calculated, anti-competitive and archaic strategy designed to monopolise coverage of a public interest event.”
ZOCC said that after receiving the complaints, it contacted Chivayo family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo for clarity. According to the association, he said all journalists and content creators were welcome and formally invited to provide unrestricted coverage.
The association argued that because Chivayo was accorded provincial hero status, his funeral was a matter of wider public interest and should be open to the press.
It also cited Section 61 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
ZOCC said it has issued a formal warning to Madondo to immediately cease interfering with, intimidating or obstructing journalists and digital content creators performing their professional duties, and has lodged a complaint with the ZMC seeking an investigation and possible sanctions.
Madondo has defended his presence at the funeral, saying the family appointed him as its official media partner.
Responding on Facebook to criticism that he was spending too much time at the Chivayo homestead, he wrote: “Just so you know, I go home every day at 9 pm and start working in the morning. I was asked by the Chivayo family to cover their funeral as the official media partner; that’s why you’re seeing me there every day. Nditori pa basa.”
ZOCC called on event coordinators, security personnel and media stakeholders to respect journalists’ right to work, saying media pluralism depends on an open environment for both traditional and digital practitioners.
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said declaring a person a provincial hero does not automatically waive the family’s right to grieve in privacy.
“I notice there is confusion over media access to provincial hero Chivayo’s funeral: Declaring a person a provincial hero does not automatically waive the grieving family’s right to grieve in privacy, however defined by that family,” he wrote on X.
“This is even more so when the funeral wake takes place at a homestead. What that declaration does, though, is to make such a deceased’s burial proceedings a public event, meaning media access is unlimited.”
“We should not confuse media rivalry for purposes of drawing and building viewership with the rights of the grieving family, which reserves the right to limit access and define parameters of coverage.”
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