Zimbabwe: Mugabe to meet African journalists

President Robert Mugabe is this week expected to meet local and foreign journalists at the end of a two-day congress by African journalists in Harare this weekend.

 

The Second Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) congress to be hosted by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) will be officially opened by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday morning.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara will officially close the high profile event the following day.

 

The African media event, to be held at Harare’s Rainbow Towers Hotel, will also see highly rated local musician Oliver Mtukudzi come out of two weeks of mourning his late son, Sam, to entertain hordes of African journalists set to take part.

 

But it is President Mugabe’s presence that is set to captivate foreign journalists that may have long been yearning for an opportunity to interview the elusive octogenarian leader.

 

ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi told the media on Thursday that Mugabe’s role would be that of meeting the journalists at an unofficial level.

 

Mugabe is expected to grace a dinner session that would be held after the close of the triennial event Sunday evening.

 

The dinner session has been organised by Zimbabwe’s Information and Publicity Ministry for the visiting African journalists.

 

Earlier, Dongozi said in a statement that the expected 50 plus delegates to the congress have been drawn from the African continent’s sub regional groups of Southern Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and North Africa.

 

Also among those set to grace the occasion would be Jim Boumelha,President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the General Secretary, Aidan White.

 

Some notable delegates set to attend will include Madam Habiba Mejri- Cheikh from the African Union Madam Pansy Tlakula, the African Commission’s Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and representatives from UNESCO.

 

Issues to be discussed involve ethical journalism, media accountability and climate change, press freedom and the media development, safety for journalists, gender mainstreaming and equity in unions and media organisations.

 

According to Dongozi, FAJ’s observer status within the African Union is being finalised at the continental body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Representatives from the diplomatic and donor communities, together with Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression and media advocacy partners will be in attendance.

 

The African media event is being held ahead of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) congress which will be held this May in Spain.

 

The holding of the event comes after months of anxiety by Zimbabwe’s biggest journalists’ trade union movement that has been rocked by a power wrangle.

 

The wrangle spilled to the law courts leading to a rerun of the union’s controversial December congre

 

- March 25, 2010 by Zimbabwe Times

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Source: www.thezimbabwetimes.com (accessed on 26.03.10)