ZUJ says independent press council to be set up before December

By Lance Guma
03 October 2006

The president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) Matthew Takaona has disclosed that an independent press council will be in place before December to regulate the media. Responding to an attack by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) that ZUJ was involved in anti-government propaganda, Takaona says they are surprised by the accusations in light of their efforts at engaging government. He says the MIC chief, Tafataona Mahoso, made the allegations on the eve of a two-day lobbying conference organised by the media alliance of Zimbabwe to push Members of Parliament who are on the communications portfolio to support the repealing of repressive media laws.

Takaona says it’s accepted worldwide that self-regulation of the media is the best option and that even the ministry of information had given its endorsement of the idea to ZUJ. He says their meetings with the acting Information Minister Paul Mangwana have been productive and that they expect to have the council in place by December. Its not clear though whether any of the groups involved in negotiating with government can secure a repeal of the repressive media laws in place.

The state appointed media commission called on government to probe the ZUJ leadership. Mahoso revealed in his weekly Sunday Mail article that they have already written to the Ministry of Information making the request. Mahoso accused Nunurai Jena, a provincial secretary for ZUJ in Mashonaland West, of stringing for VOA ‘s Studio 7 radio station. Mahoso went on to say they have already asked the police to investigate the matter. He also says ZUJ wrote to the Netherlands embassy and UNESCO requesting funds to advance an anti-Zimbabwe agenda.

Mahoso has been on the warpath attacking all the major media organisations in the country. At the end of September he attacked MISA for allegedly portraying itself as ‘regime change activists’ to the donor community. He also accused the media alliance of Zimbabwe comprising the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), MISA and ZUJ, of holding clandestine meetings under the guise of working for media law reform. Observers say Mahoso is worried a self-regulatory media council will make the MIC redundant and that this was the motivation behind his attacks.