Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
I welcome you to VMCZ’s 2015 Elective Annual General Meeting.
Thank you for joining us today.
First allow me to acknowledge some of our development partners here present, I would also like to acknowledge the presence of editors who are here with us today and media organisation representatives who are here today.
This is my third AGM as Chairman and I am delighted to see a number of familiar faces in the hall.
While the year under review has not seen an increase in the harrassment, arrest and media violations- the situation in the country is still far from being ideal. Dozens of fellow media colleagues lost their jobs in the last few months as companies heeding a High Court judgement sent thousands of people into the streets on short notice. The shrinkage of the media industry has a serious impact on media professionalism as the remaining journalists in newsrooms are overloaded with work and this compromises professionalism and ethical reporting. The job losses and organisation’s streamlining of their workforce also has an impact on hundreds of graduates who are leaving universities and colleges in search of scarce jobs in the media sector.
IMPI
Allow me to turn my attention to the Report by the Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) set up last year by the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services to look into the state of the media. IMPI came up with key recommendations that we hope will be taken on board.
While the VMCZ strongly believes in media self-regulation we are however open to engagements that will improve and enhance media professionalism in Zimbabwe. We are ceratin that the majority of recommendations captured in the IMPI report embrace all the challenges facing the media and their immediate implementation will vastly improve the state of journalism in Zimbabwe.
However as indicated in other fora the reformist agenda being pursued by government and the work of IMPI to enquire into the state of the media will amount to nothing if we do not see legislative reforms and an ammendment of repressive media laws that have been used to suppress the media in the country. VMCZ urgently calls on government to expedite the law re-alignmet process so that repressive media laws are removed from the country’s statutes or realigned in line with Section 61 and Section 62 of the new constitution.
2. The Media Context
The general media siatuation in the country remains unchanged. As we meet again the isuue of criminal defamation has not been decisively dealt with by the courts. However the message that has been coming out of the courts pertaining to criminal defamation has been positive but the haggling and conflicting declarations by politicians on the same has been confusing. As the VMCZ we stand on the side of the court rulings that criminal defamation is unconstitutional and has no place in a democracy. A clear and definite pronouncement on criminal defamation will have a huge impact on freedom of expression and access to information in the country.
Criminal defamation is being abused by those in corridors of power to cow the media and score small victories against those journalists that expose their wayward behaviours.
The continued existence of repressive media laws such as AIPPA, POSA and the Criminal Law codification and Reform Act have a huge bearing on the state of media freedom in this country as the laws are at times used to silence those over critical of those in power.
When one adds the multiple regulatory frameworks on the media with bodies such as the Zimbabwe Media Commission, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority it is clear that there is a need to converge media regulation in this country into one regulatory insitution.
The VMCZ will continue its work to seek and implement democratic media self-regulation in the interests of media freedom and to further engage all media stakeholders and statutory bodies on the effectiveness of media self-regulation so that they eventually see the democratic significance of media self-reguation in Zimbabwe and globally.
3. Outline of VMCZ activities October 2013-September 2014.
Allow me Ladies and Gentlemen to turn to the organisation’s programmatic activities in the year under review. I will not touch on the activities but the detailed report of the activities will be covered in the director’s report. Let me state from the onset that the Board is happy that all the planned activities for the year under review did receive support from our partners and we are grateful to the partners for the support. I will not go into detail on all the activities but highlight one activity that we attach importance, the Media Ethics Indaba that was held yesterday. The Media Ethics Indaba provided a platform for media players to share insights into the state of media ethics in Zimbabwe and on ways to improve media professionalism and ethics in Zimbabwe. The Conference came up with key recommendations that the VMCZ will share with all statkeholders in a bid to find common ground on key and critical professional and ethical issues.
3.4 Administration.
During the period under review the Information Officers’ position was not renewed as we could not find adequate resources to fund the position. As a result the Inofrmation Officer, Donald Mukota’s contract was not renewed. However in order to keep our media platforms operational we engaged a professional intern, Tafadzwa Tseisi, to work with our digital platforms and you will agree with me that he has done an excellent job in that area. We have also engaged two interns to work in the Administration and Finance department and to assist in the Programmes Department.
Please join me in welcoming all three of them into VMCZ and I hope they will add value to the operations of the organisation.
Elective Annual General Meeting
This years’ AGM is elective and at the end of this AGM the VMCZ will have a freshly mandated leadership that will take the organisation forward. The process towards the identification of that leadership began 21 days ago with the call for nominations for positions on the board and this will culminate in the election of a new leadership today.
Ladies and Gentlemen allow me time to pay gratitude to one founding VMCZ Board Member who will not seek re-election today. He was elected into the Board since its inception in 2009 and has contributed immensely into the development of the work of the VMCZ.
He has assisted in various fund raising efforts and has been a vital member of the VMCZ Training Committee, where his passion for capacity development of the journalist was exhibited.
Ladies and Gentlemen join me in thanking Father Oscar Wermter for the work he has done for the VMCZ and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
We thank him for the exceptional contribution he has made to the organisation. Father Oscar Wermter your contribution to the VMCZ has been invaluabe. We THANK YOU
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Board Members for their efforts this year. I also thank members of the secretariat for their contribution.
And I want to pay tribute to you our members for supporting all our activities in all the country’s provinces.
Conclusion.
In conclusion ladies and Gentlemen it remains imperative that we remain steadfast in upholding the democratic values of media self regulation, media professionalism and media public accountability in the fight for the democratisation of media space in Zimbabwe. While the media situation is not ideal it is important that we pull in one direction as we seek media freedom in this country.
Finally I wish you fruitful deliberations at this AGM, and I Thank You.
A. Muchadehama
(Chairperson VMCZ Board.)
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