|
Back to Index
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition holds briefing meeting in Redcliff
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
January 17, 2011
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition held a CSOs and public briefing meeting on Saturday 15th
of January 2011 at Torwood hall in Redcliff, Midlands Province which
was attended by 142 people, 58 of which were women. Reprsentatives
of the Media
Institute Of Southern Africa (MISA), Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Youth
Agenda Trust, Zimbabwe
Civic Education Trust, Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association and National
Constitutional Assembly attended the meeting.
MISA Kwekwe
Advocacy chairperson, Blessing Mhlanga presented on MISA's
position regarding opening up media space in Zimbabwe. He noted
that the media in Zimbabwe is still muzzled by the state and should
be free from government control. Mr Mhlanga bemoaned the continued
abuse of Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) by Zanu PF. He told
the gathering that there was need to transform ZBH from being a
state broadcaster to a public broadcaster since its existence depends
heavily on taxpayers' money. Mhlanga also castigated the use
of Zimpapers by Zanu PF as its propaganda mouthpiece and told the
people that the transformation of state media would ensure access
of unbiased news to everyone. Mr Mhlanga encouraged people to join
media practitioners in advocating for freeing of airwaves as this
would benefit everyone.
Mr Pedzisai
Ruhanya of CiZ addressed participants on elections. He told the
gathering that the people of Zimbabwe were simply being victimised
for fighting for same rights which the war veerans and liberation
struggle spirit mediums such as Mbuya Nehanda and Chaminuka fought
for. He highlighted that ZANU PF was responsible for the plundering
of national resources under the guise of an elitist indenous empowerment
drive. Ruhanya bemoaned the collapse of the education and health
sectors and attributed this to mal administration by ZANU PF. He
concluded by noting that the only difference between Smith colonial
regime and that of Mugabe is their skin colour.
The participants
recommended the following:
- That the
new constitution should guarantee people's freedoms.
- That there
is need for a peace keeping force before an election in order
to prevent political violence.
- That there
is need for civil society organisations to always visit communities
and keep them informed on developments taking place in the country
- They called
for the distribution of short-wave radio gadgets since they cannot
access ZBC as a result of poor transmission.
- That the
COPAC process be closely monitored by civics to ensure that people's
views are collated correctly and not tampered with.
- That there
is need for the government to revist the Citizenship Act so as
to accord citizenship to Zimbabweans who are currently regarded
as Aliens.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
