HARARE -- The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) have cautiously welcomed recent moves by Harare to free the media after years of tough controls on journalists and newspapers. “There have been in recent weeks a flourish of announcements by government officials of the start of a new era of free expression in Zimbabwe. But the jury is out and, in the next few months, we will be watching intently to see what is going to come out of that process,” said IFJ President Jim Boumelha following his visit to Zimbabwe earlier this month.
The BBC and CNN were at the end of July given the green light to return to Zimbabwe while a committee set up to review the case of the banned Daily News recommended that the paper should be given a publishing licence.
On the hand the Harare authorities up moves to establish a new Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) with Parliament forwarding names of 12 candidates from among who President Robert Mugabe should appoint nine people to sit on the ZMC. The ZMC is expected to lead the governments media reform programme.
“All the politicians that I have spoken to are outbidding each other to echo our demands for media reforms and pluralism. The challenge now is whether these announcements are really going to lead to a change and allow journalists to do their work free of corruption and intimidation,” added Boumelha.
The IFJ has for years urged the Zimbabwe government to repeal tough security and press laws that authorities used to shut down independent newspapers and arrest scores of journalists.
During his visit to Harare, Boumelha met leading journalists, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions officials, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu, Information Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Nelson Chamisa among other key leaders in the country.
Journalists and human rights activists hope a proposed new constitution for Zimbabwe will include clauses that specifically guarantee the freedoms of the Press and expression.
Zimbabwes present charter only guarantees freedom of expression, a right whose enjoyment has been severely restricted through a host of laws enacted by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party over the years.
Meanwhile Boumelha also called on media companies to work to improve the conditions of Zimbabweans journalists who earn poor salaries, a situation that has seen many journalist leaving the country for better paying jobs abroad.
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