Journalist accused of forging ZANU PF press card, barred from conference and threatened with “worst consequences”

MISA Zimbabwe has criticised the barring of a freelance journalist from the 23rd ZANU PF Annual People’s Conference at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) on Friday.

In a statement, the media watchdog said denying journalists access to the ruling party’s conference undermines press freedom and prevents them from fulfilling their constitutional duty to inform the public, as the party’s decisions affect society as a whole.

According to MISA, freelance journalist Nunurai Jena was stopped from entering CUT, the venue of the conference, despite holding party-issued accreditation.

At Gate No. 1, Jena presented his official ZANU PF press card for digital scanning. Security officials told him the card was registered as “unfounded” in their system. He was directed to a second gate to rescan the card, which produced the same result.

Security personnel then accused him of forging the credentials and demanded to know where he had “manufactured” the card. Jena said the card had been officially issued to him at ZANU PF headquarters in Harare the previous week.

Officers questioned him for about 45 minutes and recorded his personal details on an official form. During the questioning, they said he “should know why” he was unwelcome at ZANU PF activities.

When asked why accreditation had been granted in the first place, security personnel said the card had been “issued in error” and that they were “rectifying the situation” by confiscating it and ejecting him from the event.

Jena was then escorted to the main gate, ordered to leave immediately and warned not to return, with officers stating that failure to comply would result in “worst consequences”.

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