R2K Champions 2016: Tom Nkosi & Ziwaphi newspaper

Nkosi is a community journalist and newspaper publisher. He publishes Ziwaphi, an investigative newspaper in Mpumalanga.

He has been threatened with criminal defamation for publishing allegations that two former members of the Congress of the People wrote affidavits claiming that a senior Mpumalanga politician has promised to pay them to break into the party’s offices and steal a laptop containing sensitive information about a spate of killings in Mpumalanga.

The case never made it to court but Nkosi is worried that one day he may be arrested. “Journalists have to live with the fear that they will be arrested, kept in police cells and be subjected to a trial, and when convicted, they’d be branded common criminals”, he said. Read more here.

The charge of criminal defamation remains a huge threat to critical investigative journalists.

Tom Nkosi & Ziwaphi newspaper are featured in the 2016 Champions for the Right to Know Calendar.