Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume have been granted bail after being arrested on 20 July for supporting of the planned 31 July protests in Zimbabwe.
The former ITV journalist was freed after the fourth attempt after spending 43 days in prison.
Speaking soon after being released, the defiant journalist criticised the government for neglecting prisoners and stealing funds that are supposed to be used for such services.
“The prison hospital has no medicine. Those infected by Covid-19 are isolated and given hot water. All these is being caused by corruption. those funds are supposed to buy all these things. There is no soap, there is no running water,” Chin’ono said
Asked if he has been broken, Chin’ono responded, “I remain strong, I was talking to Jacob here (Ngarivhume) that these guys should haven’t taken us here because we have seen things that we used only to hear about. Now we know and we can write authoritatively about those things.”
Chin’ono went on to accuse the government of attempting to silence him by banning him from Tweeting inciting tweets. “They have removed me from Twitter but they never said Facebook so i will still be on social media. I will write for local media about my experiences.”
Asked if he is ready for a ‘war’ against the government, Chin’ono said he has not started a war but demanding what the government should have provided.
His co-accused Jacob Ngarivhume said, “We cannot afford to go back. The days we have spent in prison have brought awareness to the issues in this country. That is important, we have put Zimbabwe back on the map and everybody wants to know what is happening. Let us make sure that we go all the way to get what we expected. A corrupt free nation is good for everybody.”
Read More: Jacob Ngarivhume granted bail