29 August 2009

THE Federation of African Journalists, FAJ, will hold its March 2010 congress in Zimbabwe.
The congress, which brings together representatives of journalists from African countries, will be held in Harare.


Zambia has been put on standby to host the congress in Livingstone, in the event of Zimbabwe failing to host the congress which will come a few weeks before the 2010 Soccer World Cup Finals kick-off in South Africa.


ZUJ president, Matthew Takaona told The Standard that African journalists who met in Djibouti voted unanimously to hold the congress in Zimbabwe ahead of the Zambian bid. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), has won the right to host.


The Federation of African Journalists is an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing almost a million journalists worldwide.


The announcement to host the congress coincided with the visit to Zimbabwe of the IFJ president, Jim Boumelha and the executive of the National Union of Journalists in the UK and Ireland.


The NUJ has a membership of 38 000 journalists and was in Zimbabwe on a solidarity visit with ZUJ. It used the opportunity to explore ways of partnering with its Zimbabwean counterpart.


Head of the NUJ delegation and deputy secretary general, Michelle Stanistreet said the partnership was among other issues, expected to result in the capacity-building of ZUJ.


“From the meetings that we have held with ZUJ, some of the issues that have emerged are the need to improve the capacity of the union as an organisation, to try and increase the number of female journalists and to increase their participation in trade union activities and the need for more professional training, especially in Online journalism.”


As part of a programme to build the capacity of freelance journalists, the NUJ announced that it would boost the ZUJ resource centre to enable journalists to embark on research by contributing computers and literature.


The NUJ and IFJ delegations held meetings with the ZUJ and the ZCTU leadership.


The government and party officials they met include Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, Media, Information and Publicity minister, Webster Shamu, ICT’s minister, Nelson Chamisa and veteran journalist and Zanu PF spokesperson, Nathan Shamuyarira.


Officials from the Ministry of and Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, also met the visitors.


Government officials pledged to throw their support behind the hosting of the congress by ZUJ.
As part of the partnership between the two unions, a ZUJ representative will be a keynote speaker at the NUJ’s congress in Liverpool, November later this year.

thezimbabwestandard