News / National
FinGaz Deputy Editor Elected MISA Chairperson
02 Jul 2011 at 15:04hrs | Views
Njabulo Ncube the Deputy Editor of Financial Gazette was Saturday elected unopposed to the position of Media Institute of Southern Africa (Zimbabwe Chapter) Chairperson, taking over from Lofty Dube who is now in the MISA regional office trust funds body.
Ncube, who was serving as deputy chair of the media lobby group, said in his acceptance speech that he will intensify the fight for media freedom in Zimbabwe.
"We are facing an onslaught on the independent media so we need to up the stakes by lobbying against repressive media laws that are used to criminalise the journalism profession," he said.
"One of our top priorities is to try and have a repeal of these repressive media laws. We have an uphill task to try and conscientise our leaders that journalism is a profession and not a criminal act."
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights information officer Kumbirai Mafunda was elected Vice chairperson while NewsDay journalist Kelvin Jakachira while Bulawayo based freelance journalist Lifaqale Nare were elected committee members.
Four candidates contested for the posts with Jakachira garnering 57 votes against his only challenger Harare based freelance journalist's Wallace Mawire's 13 in gender based voting process decided on the spur of the moment.
Nare was got 41 votes against another Bulawayo based freelance journalist Anastacia Ndlovu's 21.
The elections were conducted by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) while the Law Society of Zimbabwe participated in assessing the nominations.
Two bouncers were hired by MISA to bar "spoilers" to the congress, which was held at a Harare hotel.
MISA is a media watchdog advocating for media pluralism, diversity and independence all aimed at increasing access to information and media freedom.
Meanwhile, in his speech during congress, MISA national Director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said journalists must not be blinded by the piecemeal efforts made by the country's inclusive government but must continue fighting for the complete liberalisation of the media.
"…as we move forward we should not allow ourselves to be compromised by the so called 'transitional strategic compromises' that have proven ineffective in dismantling the infrastructure of media repression," said Ngwenya.
"We need to remain alive to the fact that there is nothing transitional about our repressive media laws such as AIPPA and the BSA hence we need not compromise on the core values of our work."
Ncube, who was serving as deputy chair of the media lobby group, said in his acceptance speech that he will intensify the fight for media freedom in Zimbabwe.
"We are facing an onslaught on the independent media so we need to up the stakes by lobbying against repressive media laws that are used to criminalise the journalism profession," he said.
"One of our top priorities is to try and have a repeal of these repressive media laws. We have an uphill task to try and conscientise our leaders that journalism is a profession and not a criminal act."
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights information officer Kumbirai Mafunda was elected Vice chairperson while NewsDay journalist Kelvin Jakachira while Bulawayo based freelance journalist Lifaqale Nare were elected committee members.
Four candidates contested for the posts with Jakachira garnering 57 votes against his only challenger Harare based freelance journalist's Wallace Mawire's 13 in gender based voting process decided on the spur of the moment.
The elections were conducted by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) while the Law Society of Zimbabwe participated in assessing the nominations.
Two bouncers were hired by MISA to bar "spoilers" to the congress, which was held at a Harare hotel.
MISA is a media watchdog advocating for media pluralism, diversity and independence all aimed at increasing access to information and media freedom.
Meanwhile, in his speech during congress, MISA national Director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said journalists must not be blinded by the piecemeal efforts made by the country's inclusive government but must continue fighting for the complete liberalisation of the media.
"…as we move forward we should not allow ourselves to be compromised by the so called 'transitional strategic compromises' that have proven ineffective in dismantling the infrastructure of media repression," said Ngwenya.
"We need to remain alive to the fact that there is nothing transitional about our repressive media laws such as AIPPA and the BSA hence we need not compromise on the core values of our work."
Source - RadioVOP
