Zimbabwe: RSF presses police to spare no effort in solving the murder of investigative journalist Watson Flexy Munyaka
Investigative journalist Watson Flexy Munyaka died on 17 March after being brutally thrown from a moving car. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this heinous murder and calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to do everything in their power to ensure that the investigation leads to the elucidation of this crime and the bringing to justice of all those responsible.
It is a case of unprecedented violence against an investigative journalist in Marondera. On 17 March, Watson Flexy Munyaka's body was found in a central neighborhood of the city, which is southeast of the capital, Harare. The journalist had just been violently thrown from a moving 4x4 vehicle in broad daylight. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Watson Flexy Munyaka was one of the founders of Dug Up, a collective of independent investigative journalists launched in September 2024 to investigate corruption and crime in Zimbabwe. “Watson was our man on the ground. He was the one who allowed us to conduct in-depth investigations in Zimbabwe,” Maynard Manyowa, the UK-based collective’s senior producer, told RSF. A few days earlier, Dug Up had published a report on the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and posted videos documenting internal tensions between the president and his vice-president on YouTube.
Police opened an investigation on 17 March to determine the reasons and circumstances of the murder.
“Fighting corruption, drug trafficking, poaching, etc. The cases Watson Flexy Munyaka investigated were sensitive and of public interest. His heinous murder, which highlights the climate of violence faced by investigative journalists in Zimbabwe, must not go unpunished. RSF urges the police to do everything possible to shed light on this murder, identify those responsible, and bring them to justice.
Between 2017 and 2019, Watson Flexy Munyaka worked as a journalist for Khuluma Afrika, an investigative journalism center based in Harare, where he notably exposed ivory poaching in the country. In 2018, he was a regular guest on Power 987 FM, a South African station, where he analysed current events. Since launching Dug Up in September 2024, the 38-year-old journalist had investigated several sensitive cases, including affairs involving Delish Nguwaya, a businessman linked to a drug and corruption scandal during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Walter Magaya, a preacher accused of selling a fake HIV cure and being involved in two deaths. These investigations were scheduled to be published in April on Dug Up's YouTube channel.
The crackdown on journalists speaking truth to power
This latest act of violence comes amid a growing crackdown on criticism of the authorities in Zimbabwe. Journalist Blessed Mhlanga from the independent media outlet Alpha Media Holdings has been detained since 25 February. He is wrongfully accused of "inciting hatred" for covering a press conference during which war veteran Blessed Geza criticised President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe is ranked 116th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
