Zimpapers Logo

the region’s former colonisers’ machinations.
Media, Information and Publicity Minister Cde Webster Shamu said Southern Africa was experiencing a media war which required journalists to be vigilant as former colonisers were still looking at ways of influencing the region.
Minister Shamu was speaking at a cocktail hosted by Zimpapers for members of the Sadc Media Awards Regional Adjudication Committee in Harare on Friday.
“The war is now through the media. The media is defining the relations between the developed and developing nations. They (western media) want to reverse our gains by continuing to try to make us submit to the whims of the former colonisers.
“Sadc needs to fight together because what binds us together is where we came from (struggles for independence). The actions of MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) are unfortunate as they show that some of our journalists answer to the command of our yesteryear masters,” he said.
Minister Shamu said the successful completion of the adjudication process was ample testimony of the professional manner in which RAC had conducted itself.
“I am confident that when the results of this adjudication process are announced at the SADC summit in August, more and more journalists will be inspired not only to excel in their work but also participate in the competition,” Minister Shamu said.
He said there was need for the region to establish a SADC information Ministers forum to consider and submit recommendations of RAC to the SADC Council of Ministers.
Minister Shamu lamented the fact that some members of RAC were not attending the adjudicating sessions for a long time and promised to raise the issue with other information ministers.
RAC chairperson Mr Charles Mubita concurred with Minister Shamu saying the absence of entries from journalists from other member countries at the instigation of the MISA was unfortunate as it meant Africans were being denied an opportunity to participate at the behest of a foreign funded organisation.
“The boycott of the awards by MISA and its supporters is on the premises that Sadc is not democratic and will only do so when it becomes so.
“But what we have to know is that MISA is funded by outside organisations.
It is therefore being manipulated to fight the development of media in the region,” he said.
Mr Mubita appealed to the region to come up with a platform that would ensure the work of information practitioners and journalists is easy.
Zimpapers board chairperson Dr Paul Chimedza said the media was critical in regional integration hence the need for it to tell the Sadc story in a manner the region wants it told.
He said the establishment of the Southern Times, a joint venture between Zimpapers and Namibia’s New Era, was a step towards coming with true regional media
“Media is now a war field. Don’t take the media lightly. You (media) are soldiers of Sadc and you should take it upon yourself to defend the region.
“How you protect your region reflects what you are.
“The media in America and Europe speaks well about their regions and that is exactly what media in Sadc should do,” Dr Chimedza said.
The adjudication team comprised officials from Botswana, Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique, and was in Harare to judge the various entries that had been submitted for the regional competition.
The media awards that have been running for the past eight years are meant to promote high standards of journalism in the region.