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MISA-Zimbabwe
elects new board members
MISA-Zimbabwe on 26 July 2008 held its elective Annual General
Meeting (AGM) in Harare during which it elected new members
into its National Governing Council and also adopted amendments
to its constitution to comply with the Regional Office’s
constitutional requirements.
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Loughty Dube was retained unopposed as Chairperson while former
Committee Members Njabulo Ncube and Angela Makamure were elevated
to the positions of Vice Chairperson and Treasurer.
Ncube beat former Treasurer Elijah Chiwota to the position of
Vice
Chairperson while Makamure was elected unopposed together with
two other female candidates Faith Zaba and Miriam Madziwa who
assumed positions in the NGC as Committee Members. Senior
Zimbabwean journalist Tapfuma Machakaire and photojournalist
Boldwill Hungwe also came in as Committee Members in an election
that was contested by former Committee Member Kelvin Jakachira
and freelance journalist Columbus Mavhunga.
The new NGC is therefore constituted as follows:
Chairperson Loughty
Dube
Vice Chairperson Njabulo
Ncube
Treasurer Angela
Makamure
Committee Members Faith Zaba
Tapfuma
Machakaire
Miriam
Madziwa
Brian
Hungwe.
The meeting also adopted a MISA-Zimbabwe Code of Conduct which
will guide and sanction the professional conduct of its NGC,
Secretariat and membership. A clause which stipulates that where
a chairperson is not seeking re-election or loses in an election,
s/he will serve as an ex-officio member of the new NGC for a
period of one year was also debated and adopted by the AGM.
In his report to the AGM, the Chairperson said MISA-Zimbabwe
would build on the theme of this year’s May 3 Celebrations
to continue the struggle for the emergence of an environment
in which citizens enjoy freedom of expression and independence
from political, economic and commercial interests, pluralism
of views and opinions as envisaged under the 1991 Windhoek Declaration.
This year’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Zimbabwe
were held under the theme: Media Freedom Remains on the Agenda.
We Demand a Constitution that protects Media Freedom.
“
MISA-Zimbabwe hopes to build on the momentum of the 2008 theme
to lobby the Sixth Parliament of Zimbabwe on the need for an
explicit constitutional provision that will guarantee media freedom.
“
Our planned lobby and advocacy will necessarily focus on intensifying
campaigns for the freeing of the airwaves to allow the entry
of new players in the broadcasting sector and establishment of
community radio stations,” said Dube.
He pledged that MISA-Zimbabwe would continue to work and collaborate
with colleagues in the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) namely
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe (MMPZ) and Zimbabwe National Editor’s Forum (Zinef)
in the quest for the attainment of that objective.
“
We are, however, hopeful that the ongoing talks preceded by the
signing of an MOU between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations
this week, will help address the problems facing the country.
“
While we are not privy to the actual contents of the agenda items,
we are of the view that the two- week negotiation period should
be preceded by an unequivocal and explicit guarantee to the right
of freedom of expression, access to information and freedom of
the media,” he said.
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