Press Release

MEF extends media course duration

mwiinga — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:33:36 +0200

The Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF) has changed its duration of Media and Communications (Journalism) diploma course from nine months to two years. This is in a bid to meet Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVETA) regulations.

Speaking during a welcome address to first-years on Friday 22 January, the head of programmes, Mr Michael Mwanachoongo, revealed that a longer duration had more advantages for students as compared to a nine-month programme. “The industry is now demanding for journalists with a diploma of at least two years' training. So we must meet the needs of the industry,” he said.

Media lecturer, Ms Mwiinga Shimilimo, said two years of training will give students more study time and hours to do practical assignments in courses like photo journalism. She said students will have longer attachment periods of three months, unlike the previous six-week-long field work.

The media and communications (Journalism) programme has been running for nine months over the past seven years as a department under MEF. This programme started in 1959 under the Africa literature centre as a nine month course for training young Africans to speak and write without fear of colonialists. The programme was aimed at training Africans who would take over offices from colonial masters once African countries had gained independence.

By Florence Sichula

MEF took over the running of Africa literature centre in 2003.

Spokesperson Sets The Record Straight On Presidential Media Assignments

Blessing — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:39:49 +0200

It is so sad to see and hear about journalists in Zambia not being part of the team that covers the Zambian President when he travels outside the country. This is apparently because of financial constraints. Some media houses also say that only certain media houses with a particular viewpoint get access to the President.

I took it a step further and caught up with Mr Dickson Jere, the President’s special assistant for press and public relations. Mr Jere said that President Rupiah Banda has certified the inclusion of all media houses on key presidential assignments within and outside the country.

Mr Jere said in a statement a few days ago that because of financial constraints, however, reporters from the private media would be included in the trips on rotational basis.

“I wish to clarify a deceptive and invalid story published by an unnamed newspaper of January 2010, titled ‘State House eyes Muvi TV to cover president at AU Summit,’ in which the newspaper alleges that His Excellency, Rupiah Banda is only interested in Muvi TV to cover his trips, leaving out the other private media and the State television,” he said.

Mr. Jere said that following several requests from both public and private media institutions for them to be included in the Presidential delegation to key international events, the President certified that all media houses should be included on local and international trips

For example, Mr Jere said, a team from a privately owned radio station was in the President’s delegation to Maputo in Mozambique for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Troika meeting held some few weeks back,.

Mr Jere went on to state that the President’s delegation to the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, would include the private media in addition to the team from the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS), which syndicates the stories to all media outlets in Zambia.

All in all, reporters from the Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and community radio stations across the country would also be included on a revolving basis on presidential delegations to key, international events.

Reject the Proposed Appointment of Homophobic Journalist as an Ambassador

Noma — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:43:08 +0200

The Joint Working Group (JWG), a network Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) organizations throughout South Africa are deeply disturbed by reports over the weekend reportedly confirmed by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation that Jon Qwelane is to be appointed as an ambassador. We are even more disturbed by suggestions that he may be sent to Uganda where a brutally homophobic piece of legislation is being debated at this time.

Jon Qwelane has shown himself on a number of occasions to be openly and unapologetically homophobic and transphobic, not least when he wrote the article “Call me names, but Gay is not ok” in which he among other things expressed support for Robert Mugabe’s brutal and oppressive treatment of LGBTI people in Zimbabwe. There remains an open investigation and pending charges against Qwelane for hate speech at the South African Human Rights Commission in connection with this article.

Given that the South African Constitution in the Bill of Rights clearly states that people may not be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation it seems unbelievable that a person who clearly holds views contrary to those stated in the Constitution would be considered a suitable representative of the state in any role, anywhere in the world.

That there is even a suggestion of Qwelane being sent to Uganda is utterly disgraceful. The anti-homosexuality bill currently under discussion in that country is an entirely oppressive piece of legislation, not only does it seek to impose draconian punishments on people found guilty of homosexuality but it attempts to punish people who fail to report on homosexuals and activists working in the field of LGBTI rights among others.

That President Museveni of Uganda has in recent days spoken up against the bill is the result of an immense amount of activism within and outside Uganda and an enormous international outcry from countries around the world, South Africa’s voice has been painfully silent in this outcry. It defies comprehension that at a time like this South Africa would even consider sending a vocal homophobe to act as our countries new representative in Uganda.

The Joint Working Group rejects this appointment and call for its immediate withdrawal. We further demand that our government clearly state our country's opposition to the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. Finally we demand that the South African Human Rights Commission immediately expedite the pending Hate Speech charges against Jon Qwelane as this case has already taken far too long to come to court. We will be carefully considering all options for further action related to this matter.

The JWG is made up of the following member organisations: Activate WITS, Behind the Mask, Coalition of African Lesbians, Durban Gay and Lesbian Community, D Gayle, Engender, Forum for the Empowerment of Women, Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, Gay and Lesbian Network (PMB), Gay Umbrella, Gender DynamiX, Glorious Light MCC, Good Hope MCC, Hope and Unity MCC, Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM), Jewish Outlook, Out in Africa, OUT LGBT Well-being, OUT Rhodes, RainbowUCT

For more information please contact:

Emily Craven – JWG – 011 403 5566

Emily Craven
Coordinator
Joint Working Group
011 403 5566
011 403 5567
emily@jwg.org.za

Mobilising social change

Noma — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:07:35 +0200

ISS and Hivos host a conference on Civil Society Building. The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in partnership with the Dutch development NGO Hivos, are hosting a two-day conference, entitled: Mobilising social justice at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Unlocking the potential for civic action to achieve structural change The conference, which will take place at the Chalsty Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand on the 23rd and 24th of November, is the culmination of a two year ‘Knowledge Programme on Civil Society Buiding’ between the two organisations. The conference will present the results of several research projects that the Programme has supported.

The research projects were born from the three-pronged objectives of

Exploring the dynamics of civil society,
The roles of external actors and
The potential of civil society to stimulate structural changes.

The research projects to be presented include:

The role of civil society in the parliamentary budget process
The role of social movements in accessing basic services
Civil society and challenges to the right to protest
The dynamics of migrant community mobilisation

Speakers include Yasmoon Sooka of the Foundation of Human Rights and Shahrukh Alam of the Patna Collective in Bangalore, India.

Follow the conference onL http://www.ngopulse.org/group/mobilising-social-change and on Twitter #msj09.

For more information and to organise interviews please contact: Ghadija Vallie 082 589 0 589

TaTEDO donated improved charcoal oven to Disability centre in Dar es Salaam

edithm — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:30:04 +0200

TaTEDO is a development NGO based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with more than seventeen years experience in facilitating access to sustainable modern energy services. TaTEDO undertakes activities in 10 regions and in more than 100 villages in Tanzania.

TaTEDO’s vision is to ensure Poverty free and self-reliant communities in Tanzania accessing sustainable modern energy services in Tanzania. While its mission is to advance popular access to sustainable modern energy technologies in marginalized communities in Tanzania through energy technological adaptations, community mobilization and advocacy for increased access to sustainable energy services, poverty reduction, environmental conservation and self-reliance.

In undertaking its activities to bring development in energy sector of Tanzania, TaTEDO also provide assistance to marginalized groups in Tanzania, whereby various donations are given to disabled groups and orphans.

Manzese Disability Centre is a centre managed by CCBRT Hospital whereby children with different disabilities have a proper managed place for their physical exercises. At this centre, children are being taken care of with their parents especially their mothers, having spending a lot of thime at the centre these women had not been able to do any income generating activities which make their lives more difficult.

To see this need TaTEDO donated an improved charcoal stove oven to a group of 20 women who are active members of the centre. These were trained on baking cake and breads using the oven and later being given the oven which they will use to start a small business on selling cakes and breads so that they can get extra income to support the centre ad well as themselves.

Mourning the death of Keith Goddard, GALZ Director

Noma — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:24:11 +0200

STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF GALZ
The Board of GALZ sadly announces the passing away of the Director, Mr. Keith Goddard on Friday 9th October 2009.

The Board has appointed Mr. Chesterfield Samba, the Operations Manager as the person in charge of the day to day running of the organization. In the interim, all correspondences to the organization should be addressed to the Operations Manager.
The Board is working closely with management on ensuring the smooth running of the organization, the fulfilment of all its obligations and membership activities.

Board appointment of Directorship will be announced upon completion of due procedures.

On behalf of the GALZ management team, membership, LGBTI people of Zimbabwe, the Board extends deepest sympathies to Mr. Goddard’s mother Pauline.

Gilbert Kunyarimwe Board Co-Chairperson
Belinda Weale, Board Co-Chairperson

Sithengi suspends activities

Noma — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:21:14 +0200

SITHENGI has received the news that the new Minister of Arts and Culture, Minister Lulu Xingwana “has called for a moratorium on all spending pending a forensic investigation”. This means that the funding that SITHENGI was promised by DAC in December 2008 will not be available as yet. This after SITHENGI had fulfilled the requirements of both a New Funding Proposal and an Audited Creditors Statement to ensure that all SITHENGI debt will be paid-up from the proposed R 5 Million and the remaining R 1 Million would be used as seed funding for a SITHENGI Market this year. The Audited Creditors Statement was sent to NFVF since the SITHENGI funds were meant to be channeled through the NFVF. Given this present situation the SITHENGI Board hereby informs the industry that we will suspend further activities until such time that DAC will be able to release SITHENGI’s agreed upon R 5 Million.

Festival Description:

Sithengi, a Section 21 non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, was established in 1995 with the aim to promote the development of and trade in African film and television products; to expose African film and television products to the international arena; and to provide development and training support in the areas of marketing and selling these products to potential buyers. This is accomplished by hosting 2 annual events - the Cape Town World Cinema Festival and the Sithengi Film and TV Market. These events have positioned Sithengi as the premier film and television event organisation in Africa.

For enquiries contact:
Faith Isiakpere (Chairperson)
Judi Nwokedi (Deputy Chairperson)
Firdoze Bulbulia (Media Liaison, Spokesperson): moments@icon.co.za

Cape Town TV Off Air

Noma — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:15:10 +0200

Cape Town TV (CTV), the mother city’s own community television channel, has been forced to go off air temporarily. Cash flow problems have inhibited the station’s ability to pay its transmission costs, but the station’s management is confident that the situation will be resolved shortly, when the necessary funds have been raised.

CTV chairman Martin Jansen explains, “CTV has to pay normal commercial rates for its signal transmission to Sentech, the national signal distributor parastatal that falls under the Department of Communications. There are no reduced rates for community television and radio broadcasters, despite their non-profit status.

“While community radio stations are subsidized by the Department of Communications, the DoC has not implemented this for community television. This means that CTV has to carry the entire cost of transmission, which is an onerous burden for an NGO – and especially for CTV as a new entrant into the media field.

“Whilst community broadcasting is envisaged by government policy and legislation to play a developmental role that provides direct freedom of expression to the public, no provision is made by the state for its sustainability. Community television is left to survive in the competitive commercial market.

“When a community TV channel such as CTV chooses to mainly represent the interests of the poorest and most disadvantaged sections of our community it is even less attractive to commercial advertising and sponsorship. It is imperative therefore that in order for the state to give real meaning to freedom of expression as contained in our country’s constitution, community broadcasting must be subsidized by the state in order for it to survive, remain true to its community purpose and not to fall prey to commercially driven interests.”

CTV has been on air for just over a year now, and has just won a second one-year “temporary” community broadcast license from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). At present ICASA only issues temporary licenses to community television stations, mainly because of issues around frequency allocation, a situation that is exacerbated by the migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

CTV Broadcast Manager Mike Aldridge says, “The station needs R150 000 immediately to get back on air and in the longer term, R600 000 is needed to cover the transmission costs. CTV currently broadcasts from just one transmitter, located on Tygerberg Hill. Five transmitter sites are necessary to reach the whole of Cape Town, but there are currently no spare frequencies available on these sites. This, together with the heavy transmission costs, inhibits the channel from reaching everyone in Cape Town.”

CTV Programme Manager Shelley Barry adds, “CTV has been operating on very minimal resources and it is a tribute to the unceasing efforts of our dedicated staff that we have managed to bring Capetonians programming that is informative, entertaining and an alternative to the mainstream.”

CTV is a registered non-profit organisation that was formed by over 100 NGOs in 2006. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day and provides Capetonians with a variety of programmes such as documentaries, short films, music, spirituality and sport. The channel prides itself on providing an alternative to mainstream television, with challenging shows on issues such as human rights, animal anti-cruelty, environmental issues and progressive politics.

Tanzania Government Set English to be a medium of instruction in primary schools.

pmlay — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:57:20 +0200

The proposed new education policy has highlighted the importance of using English language as a medium of instruction in primary schools in the country, ‘The Guardian’ has authoritatively learnt.

A draft of the policy, whose copy was obtained by this newspaper this week from impeccable sources, also indicates that the government has given the green light to a section of private primary schools to use English as a medium of instruction due to requests from parents who fevoured their children to be taught in English instead of Kiswahili.

The government notes in the report that the use of English had increased due to globalization, thus necessitating making it a medium of instruction in primary schools in future.

However, the policy points to the heated debate in the country on whether English or Kiswahili be used as a language of instructions at primary school level.

“So there is need to consolidate the use of Kiswahili and expand the use of English as a medium of instruction in primary schools,” reads the policy in part.

It maintains that the languages of instruction would be both English and Kiswahili, but that English would only be used as a medium of instruction in private schools and taught as a subject in most of the public primary schools.

Kiswahili became the medium of instruction at primary schools shortly after independence while English is taught as a subject and used as a medium of instruction in secondary and tertiary education.

However, proponents of Kiswahili as a medium of instruction argue that using English as a medium of instruction would lead to giving the language more emphasis at the expense of Kiswahili.

This school of thought wants Kiswahili to become a medium of instruction from primary school to higher learning institutions.

The policy will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval in two months time before the final draft is relayed to the Parliamentary Social Services Committee for review, after which the Attorney General will prepare a bill from the national policy on education to amend the 1978 National Education Act.

The proposed policy will replace the current Education and Training Policy which has been in use since 1995.

The general secretary of Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non Governmental Schools and Colleges (TAMONGSCO), Benjamin Nkonya welcomed the proposed policy, but said it was unjust for the policy to recommend the use of Kiswahili and English as mediums of instruction at primary school level but limit secondary schools to using English alone.

Nkonya said non-government schools had advised the government to endorse a system which would allow students to use one language as a medium of instruction from pre-school to tertiary level.

“We will make the problem worse if students who are taught in Kiswahili at primary level abruptly switch to English as a medium of instruction in secondary school. The decision will weaken the students’ creativity and their ability to learn new concepts.

“We want the two languages as mediums of instruction to be introduced at the secondary school level so that students may decide which way to go. A student who learned in Kiswahili in primary school should be given a choice to continue learning in the same language until he or she finishes the university,” said Nkonya.

Following failure to include such provision in the draft policy, Nkonya vowed that non-government schools through their coalition would make sure the provision is included before the policy is endorsed by the ministry of education.

Elizabeth Missokia, the Executive Director of Hakielimu, an educational NGO said in a telephone interview this week that NGOs dedicated to education would meet at the end of next week under the Tanzania Education Network (TenMet), a national network of more than 200 members to discuss the proposed policy and give their recommendations.

She said Hakielimu does not favour any of the languages being used as a medium of instruction but said there was need to distinguish between a language of instruction and language of communication.

The country needed English as a language of communication but Tanzanians needed to ask themselves if there were enough competent teachers to teach English as a medium of instruction or as a subject, she said.

“Teachers need to master the language they are using to teach. The quality of education is going down in Tanzania and Africa in general so we need to redefine and reflect what we want to achieve otherwise we will never get anywhere,” said Missokia.

Tanzanians always developed the best policies, but Missokia reckoned that the problem was the implementation of such policies, saying the education policy needed to put special emphasis on improving quality of education and teachers’ welfare rather than focusing on infrastructure development.

“It is important we start enrolling students who score division one and two into teachers’ colleges instead of those with division four…” she said.

According to the draft policy, English will remain the medium of instruction at secondary school level, but a research that was conducted by Martha Qorro, a senior lecturer in languages and linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam titled: “Does Language of Instruction Affect Quality of Education?” says teachers and students at all education levels are able to debate and discuss and ask and answer questions and therefore generate knowledge when they understand the language of instruction.

“In Tanzania the language of instruction factor has been ignored for a long time and this has had a negative impact on the quality of education…..insisting on using English as the language of instruction in Tanzanian secondary schools and institutions of higher learning does more harm than good towards the provision of quality education as well as language teaching,” she concludes in her research.

MISA statement on Censorship in Swaziland

Noma — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:32:45 +0200

MISA Resolutions and statement on Censorship, Media Developments and challenges in Swaziland.

We the delegates gathered at the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Pre AGM Conference held on 3 September at the Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre in Ezulwini, Swaziland on Censorship hereby make the following resolutions and statement:

We take note of the efforts being made by the Swazi Government to enact access to information laws and related legislation that might result in the opening up of the media sector and improve public access to information.

We urge the Swazi government to make the processes of media legislative reform and related policy issues as transparent as possible and also that fundamental and international standards on media and freedom of expression rights are adhered to. These include Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Windhoek Declaration, African Charter on Broadcasting, the Banjul Declaration on Freedom of Expression in Africa and Section 24 of the Swazi Constitution.

We call upon the government to engage media players in a process of dialogue to review restrictive media laws that infringe on media and freedom of expression rights. Such laws include among others, the Suppression of Terrorism Act 2009 and Electronic Evidence Act 2009.

We express concern on the state of the media and freedom of expression rights in Swaziland especially the censorship and intimidation of the media as stated by Swazi journalists and activists and recorded cases of intimidation.

We therefore call upon the government to ensure the safety of Swazi media workers who face harassment be it by security forces or traditional authorities and drop any legal cases against media workers or citizens charged for freely expressing themselves.

We also call the Swazi government to embark on a process of reforms in the management of the State owned media by guaranteeing and ensuring editorial independence of such media.

We also call upon the government and MISA-Swaziland to embark on a process of national dialogue to discuss fundamental issues around the relationship between traditional authorities, role of media, values and systems vis-à-vis fundamental human rights issues and how media and freedom of expression rights should be entrenched in Swazi society.

We further call upon MISA-Swaziland to maintain engagement with the government on these matters as well as develop mechanisms and measures to protect media workers who are and might find themselves in distress.

We also call upon the Swazi media and civil society to speed-up the process on setting up a Voluntary Media Council to afford citizens a non litigation mediation mechanism, hence minimise tensions and threats on the media.

In the same view we call upon MISA-Swaziland to work with the media and develop a media professionalism development strategy to improve journalism skills and entrench ethical and citizen oriented reporting.

Digital Citizen's Indaba 4.0

Noma — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:42:46 +0200

The fourth Digital Citizen's Indaba (DCI) takes place on 5 – 6 September at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, just before the University's annual Highway Africa conference. DCI is an annual event that brings together bloggers, online and mobile journalists, citizen reporters, new media practitioners, online industry experts and civil society representatives. The purpose of DCI is to encourage citizen participation in debate about the state of digital media, information sharing and skills transfer using experts in the field. It encourages the use of new media take-up by non-journalists. THEME

The theme of this year's DCI is 'Digital civil society and journalism in Africa'. There has been an explosion of new media at civil society level. Issues around land rights and access to housing and water are finding their way into the digital public sphere. Violence monitoring by civil society has become easier, as mapping technology can be used to warn people about outbreaks of violence. Maps are being used to inform citizens about where to access medicines, and they may warn against shortages in access to essential treatment such as antiretrovirals. As a result of growing civil society usage of new media, mainstream media have a broader array of information to draw on, and are able to take up issues that would not have otherwise have found their way into the public domain. LINE-UP

The DCI line-up includes keynote speaker Dubissi Tande, a prolific blogger on African affairs, who will be speaking on the state of social justice digital media in Africa. Elia Varela Serra (Maneno.org) together with Bolivian Voices editor Eduardo Ávila Maneno will enlighten us on the ever pertinent topic of promoting indigenous languages in digital media. Another panel with Nthateng Mhlambiso (Behind the Mask) and Maureen Agena (Women of Uganda Network) focuses on gender, civil society and digital media.

Civil society's use of mapping tools will be explored by Bobby Soriano (Tactical Tech), Brett Davidson (Stop Stockouts) and Ndesjano Macha (Global Voices). The ways in which technology can be used to promote activism around land, environment and health will be discussed with Stephan Hofstatter (freelance journalist), Peter Benjamin (Cell-Life), Ednah Karamagi (BROSDI) and Bobby Marie (Monitoring Action).
WORKSHOPS

DCI 4.0 this year offers six workshops to ensure that all delegates will, besides knowledge, take practical skills back home to assist communities with digital activism and social justice on a local level. The workshop titles are “Multimedia Tools for Journalism” (Peter Verweij, Hogeschool Utrecht), “Digital Voices to Reconstruct Communities” (Marlon Parker, CPUT), “Successful Podcasting” (Jayne Morgan, Podcart.co.za), “Mapping Tools for Civil Society Use” (Ndesanjo Macha, Global Voices), “Using Mobile Media for Social Change” (Peter Benjamin, Cell-Life) and

"Bringing Down the Barriers with Interactive Audio Programming and Mobile Phones" (Brenda Burrell, Kubatana.net).
CONTACT US

Visit the DCI website (www.dcindaba.com) for live updates and more information. You can also find us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcindaba or use #DCI09 to search for DCI Tweets. Contact the DCI team via the website or email to dcindaba@gmail.com.

Hear Us, Stand with Us - Sign petition in support of Zimbabwean Women

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:58:27 +0200

In 2008, political violence erupted throughout Zimbabwe as a result of the contested national elections. Zimbabwean women of all ages were targeted for their political affiliations.

Local organizations estimate that state-sanctioned groups abducted, raped, tortured, and beat over 2,000 women and girls from May to July. The local police have ignored these women's pleas for protection and justice, and national leaders have been equally unresponsive to local and international demands for accountability and redress. Hear Us – a video co-produced by Zimbabwean Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and WITNESS - features four of these women who have come forward to demand justice from the Zimbabwean government and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Hear Us, Stand with Us

Witness just launched the online push to support RAU in its campaign for justice/accountability for the Zimbabwean women who were raped,tortured, abducted, and beat after the 2008 elections.

Now they are asking everyone to send and help collect messages of support that will be delivered to SADC leaders in the lead up to the SADC summit (which begins in Kinshasa on Sept 2). The organisers are hoping to get 2000 messages in the next 2 weeks a combination of video messages, petition signatures, twitter (re)tweets, comments, etc.

Sign petition - click on links below

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/600/t/9751/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=20

http://hub.witness.org/HearUsStandWithUs

Post News Editor ‘Pornography’ Case takes Off in Lusaka

mwaba — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:12:30 +0200

The case of Chansa Kabwela took off on 05^th August 2009. Chansa (Post newspaper News Editor) stands trial for circulating obscene matters or things, contrary to section 177 1 (b) of the Penal Codes of the laws of Zambia. Contrary to the charges brought against her, Chansa tried to bring to attention the duty bears the plight of a woman and baby who died in birth during the strike of health personnel who demand improved conditions of service in the month of June.

Chansa, who was arrested on 13^th July, 2009 and charged with circulating obscene matters with the intention to corrupt morals of society, when she letters attached with two pictures to the Vice President George Kunda, Secretary to Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja, Minister of Health Kapambwe Simbao, Women for Change (WfC) Non - Governmental Coordinating Council (NGOCC) and the Archbishop of Lusaka. Chansa is now in court for defending the cause of the suffering women and children of Zambia and no other interests. Chansa was arrested for defending no other cause than the cause of the poor and humble of this country.

In the support, the Post has said that Chansa will walk in that court over the whole trying period to make good that faith, to demonstrate the justice in that faith in the absolute honesty of the paper. No matter how painful the circumstances, the Post has said it cannot waiver in fulfilling its duty. They have stated that they are prepared for whatever comes, including setbacks without being discouraged. And this they say with great conviction because they believe in the value of moral principles. The paper further stated that the conduct of a human being is very important. Basing ourselves on the truth and recognition of truth, and turning this into an invisible strength, the paper is determined to go forward, firmer than ever.

The paper thanked all the friends and the many Zambians who turned up in scores of numbers to offer solidarity support behind Chansa, especially since to earn a living is so difficult in our country; it costs a lot of money to come to court in terms of transport and opportunity cost. For this reason, the paper cannot afford to be ungrateful to friends and fellow Zambians who showed up at the courthouse

The demonstration of solidarity, showed support for the paper’s work, and Chansa’s efforts, which clearly demonstrated that people are sensitive and grateful who know how to honour and support the brave who get victimised in their service, that our people recognise those who serve then; which demonstrates their solidarity with Chansa and the paper.

General

Top Jobs in the Southern Africa Media Continue to elude women

Noma — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:35:10 +0200

Johannesburg, 6 August 2009: Women are underrepresented in Southern Africa media houses; they hit the ‘glass ceiling’ at senior management and their representation wanes in top decision-making positions. Media women are more likely to be assigned to “soft beats”; to be on non-permanent contracts and to earn less, on average, than men. These are just but some of the findings of the Glass Ceilings: Women and men in Southern African media to be launched in Johannesburg today. A live debate on the findings of the report will be broadcast live on SABC International in the evening from 20h00 to 21h00.

The most comprehensive audit ever undertaken of women and men in Southern African media, the study presents findings from 126 media houses in 14 Southern African Development Corporation (SADC) countries representing 23, 678 employees. Gender Links conducted the study in collaboration with the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network and the Gender and Media Diversity Centre.

The study found that women constitute 41% of all employees in Southern African media houses compared to 59% men. This varied by country with Lesotho having the highest number of women in media at 78%, followed by South Africa and Seychelles, that have achieved gender parity. DRC, Malawi Mozambique and Zimbabwe fall below the one third mark. At 13% Zimbabwe has the lowest representation of women in the media. If South Africa, which constitutes about half of the media employees in the region is excluded the proportion of women in the Southern African media drops to 32%.

Only 23% of the top managers, 28% of senior managers and of those on boards of directors in media houses in Southern Africa are women. Media women have a higher level of job insecurity compared to their male counterparts: 58% of men are on full time, open ended contracts compared to 42% women. There is a marked gender division of labour within media houses with women dominating in finance and administration (54%), advertising and marketing (57%) and human resources. Men predominate in the production of media content from editorial (58%) to the 84% of those in the technical/IT departments.

Women media practitioners through out the region dominate in what are considered “soft beats” such as gender equality (71%) and gender violence (71%) while men predominate in “hard beats” such as investigative/in-depth reports (80%), sports (76%) and political stories which are linked to promotion and better working conditions. Sexist attitudes abound; as one of the male respondent put it: “We expect women to be at home at 6pm cooking, not at press conferences mingling with ministers.”

Only 16% of media houses surveyed said they had gender policies but few could articulate the contents of such policies. On the positive side 68% of the media indicated they would consider developing gender policies showing a commitment to address some of the challenges arising from these findings.

Gender Links announces the release of Glass Ceilings in Southern Africa media: To view the executive summary of the regional report go to: http://www.genderlinks.org.zaattachment_view.php?pa_id=1127

To view the country reports go to: http://www.genderlinks.org.za/page.php?p_id=360

For more information contact Dumi on map@genderlinks.org.za 078 585 0366
To order copies of the report: Contact Mwenda on systems@genderlinks.org.za