The Daily Mail of Zimbabwe. Photo: Jesper Højberg/IMS

”Only journalists who are ensured decent working conditions and hence are immune to corruption will fight for press freedom and freedom of expression credibly and efficiently” 

By Anne Poulsen, IMS 

This was one of the main arguments put forward, when the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) approached International Media Support (IMS) for support for a project that would enable two representatives from ZUJ to travel to Denmark and Norway to study the Scandinavian trade union models with a special focus on training of trade union representatives.

Within this context, ZUJ secretary general Foster Vulindlela Dongozi and National Coordinator Chakanyuka Bosha visited Denmark and Norway in the second week of December.

Improving working conditions

The study trip included visits to the Danish and Norwegian Journalists’ Unions as well as meetings with trade union representatives in the major media houses in Copenhagen and Oslo. The two ZUJ-representatives also met with members of the Danish Press Council in order to learn more about the regulatory framework for media in Denmark.

According to Secretary General Foster Vulindlela Dongozi, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists has been working hard to improve the working conditions and living standard of its members as well as of all other professionals in the media industry through strengthening workers committees in the media houses all over the country. And the impact has already been felt, concludes the Secretary General.

- However, there was a need for ZUJ to come up with new skills and strategies in terms of trade union development and training. Learning from examples of countries like Denmark and Norway will be a great help to further envision those mandated with taking the union to the next stage, Foster Vulindlela Dongozi said.

Training of union representatives

The study trip has complemented an ongoing programme, also supported by IMS, of paralegal training. Training paralegal officers, also known as union representatives, in Zimbabwe has become the most effective way of decentralizing legal knowledge within any given industry. Doing the same for the media industry will help lessen the rate of professional exploitation that is common within the media industry in Zimbabwe.

- Experiences from other spheres will definitely come in handy in terms of developing new approaches in dealing with these challenges,” says Foster Vulindlela Dongozi.

During the stay in Copenhagen, IMS hosted a public debate meeting on the media situation in Zimbabwe based on the book “Journalists or “Enemies of the State” – Onslaught on the Zimbabwe Media 2000 – 2005”. The book, which was made by ZUJ with support from IMS, will be published in Harare in the beginning of 2010.

State of the media in Zimbabwe

After years of violent oppression, Zimbabwe’s present government of national unity led by Morgan Tsvangarai, Prime Minister, alongside Mugabe, has generated hopes of improvement for Zimbabwean media.

In November 2009, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai held a groundbreaking speech about press freedom in connection with the launch of the Public Broadcasting in Zimbabwe report by the Open Society Institute. In the presence of diplomats, media workers, trade union representatives and political colleagues, Prime Minister Tsvangarai acknowledged that the struggle for new democratic dispensation required a parallel struggle for a free and open media environment.

- We cannot talk about democratic space unless we are able to expand the rights of the people – not limit them, he said in remarks unprecedented from a high-level politician in Zimbabwe.

- I do not believe in state regulation on media. With the Right to Freedom of Information, the state should not regulate. Instead, media should regulate itself, he said in his speech.

While the government retains its monopoly on both print and broadcasting media, the speech was interpreted as a positive and unprecedented sign of awareness of the media's situation by a leading government figure.