MISA Mozambique has learned that on Monday, January 8, 2024, reporter Filesmar Essiaca Agostinho was run over by the district director of education of Nacala-Porto, in the province of Nampula, northern Mozambique.
Correspondent of Tv SucessoIn Nacala-Porto, Filesmar Agostinho was hit by a car when he was trying to get a reaction from the district director of Education on the teachers' demands, which include salary delays and overtime payments.
The reporter had just finished interviewing teachers who had mutinied in front of the Nacala District Directorate of Education, demanding their rights, including salary arrears, overtime pay and inclusion in the Single Salary Table, when he tried to hear Alexandre Mário, the district director. In contact with MISA, Filesmar Essiaca Agostinho explained that, once at the District Directorate of Education, the reporter and his image colleague were told that the director was meeting, so if they were interested, they should wait.
The team waited for five hours. At the end of the meeting, the team tried to speak to the director, but were again told to wait. However, at a certain point, the team saw the director leaving the office in the direction of where his car was parked. At this point, the Tv Sucesso team in Nacala, which had been contacting the district director of education for more than two weeks without Alexandre Mario answering their phone calls, went to question him. Filesmar Essiaca Agostinho still tried to put questions to the director, but, arrogantly, says the reporter, the district director of education didn't deign to answer.
Instead, he got into the state vehicle and sped off. It was under these circumstances that he hit the reporter in the left leg. In addition to being run over, Alexandre Mário damaged some of the television station's work equipment. After the incident, the director did not provide any assistance to the victim, who was taken by people to the Nacala-Porto General Hospital. In fact, even after the incident, the reporter continued to call the director, but Alexandre Mário continued to ignore the call.
At the health unit, the reporter was fitted with a plaster cast and the orthopedic doctor ordered him to rest for 30 days, so a month off work, with regular checks every three days. This Wednesday, January 10, MISA contacted the district director of education in Nacala-Porto to get his reaction to the facts. However, after describing the matter, Alexandre Mário smiled and then replied in the following terms: "the ideal is to go to TV Sucesso to get the information from the reporter. I'll be willing to contradict him in the appropriate forums and thank you very much," replied the director, who ended the call immediately, while MISA was still asking him questions.
Positioning
MISA Mozambique condemns the repugnant attitude of the district director of education in Nacala-Porto. More than repugnant, his actions constitute a serious violation of press freedom and access to information. In addition to being a serious violation of press freedom, Alexandre Mário's attitude also represents a denial of the right to information of journalists and, through them, the right to information of citizens.
MISA recalls that, in the Republic of Mozambique, freedom of the press, freedom of expression and access to information are fundamental rights covered by the constitution and enshrined in ordinary laws, namely Law 18/91, of August 10 (Press Law) and Law 34/2014, of December 31 (Right to Information Law). Therefore, the conduct of the district director of education constitutes a serious breach of the constitutional and legal framework that regulates the functioning of the media in Mozambique.
In effect, MISA Mozambique reserves the right to take any legal measures it deems necessary to hold the Nacala-Porto district director of education accountable for this flagrant violation of press freedoms and the right to information. However, MISA urges the justice authorities in Nacala to act in an exemplary manner to hold the district director of education accountable, starting with the criminal case opened this Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at the District Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), by reporter Filesmar Essiaca Agostinho.
As a democratic state governed by the rule of law, we cannot tolerate or allow reporters to be run over and their attackers to go unpunished as if they had not carried out a serious attack on press freedom. What reporter Filesmar Agostinho tried to do is not a crime. On the contrary, the reporter was fulfilling one of the basic foundations of journalism, the contradictory, which is healthy and characteristic of good journalism.
In addition to the legal implications, MISA believes that Alexandre Mário's actions in no way dignify the state; the actions of a state official; much less someone who holds a management position. For this reason, MISA Mozambique urges those in authority to distance themselves from these repugnant acts committed by a public servant at management level in Nacala. The state must therefore send out a message that it does not condone this and any other acts against the freedom of the press, of expression and access to information committed by its officials, and even more so in management positions
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