Save ZUJ Campaign

New ZUJ Elections On The Cards

2010-01-05T03:30:00.000-08:00

New ZUJ elections are on the cards following the decision by Foster Dongozi and his illegitimate executive to affidavits in the High Court after the Save ZUJ Campaign approached the courts seeking the nullification of the congressional process in How Mine that saw Dumisani Sibanda being elected president of the union.

Save ZUJ Campaign remains committed to seeing a free and fair election where losers would congratulate the winners. From there on, the union would be a respected organization amongst its partners and membership.

While the Campaign takes cognizance of the fact that this matter is still in the courts, we are going to make statements regarding our reservations on the consenting affidavits after this process has been completed.

ZUJ for ALL journalists not a FEW individuals

Dongozi and Takaona Accused of Fleecing ZUJ Funds

2009-11-21T02:34:00.000-08:00

Former ZUJ president Mathew Takaona and his secretary general Foster Dongozi are refusing to pay a journalist for his services in a donor-funded program although the project money was availed to the union a long time ago, Save ZUJ Campaign can exclusively reveal.

Journalist Maxwell Sibanda has had more than three months demanding payment for his consultancy work on a project wholly funded by IMS but Takaona and Dongozi have refused to honour the agreement. Meanwhile, Sibanda has since confiscated a laptop from the union's headqaurters at Number 57 Central Avenue in protest.

Information at hand show that the funds were embezzled by Dongozi and Takaona who also stand accused by some of the union's employees of abusing fuel coupons and other union funds.

The continuos abuse of resources recently caused Dongozi and Takaona to be summoned by some named donors of the union to explain. The donors have since told them that they are not prepared to inject any resources into the union until a new executive was put in place, prompting Takaona to step down from the presidential race.

Save ZUJ Campaign is saddened by this development and would want to urge the executive-in-waiting to probe Takaona and Dongozi for abuse of office and corruption.

Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretary General

Congress Race Hots Up: The ZUJ We Want

2009-11-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

Comrades and friends,

As we approach the ZUJ congress, as your secretary general-in-waiting, I promise to ensure that all union members are given access to equal opportunities. I also want to ensure that the union is run in a membership driven process.

The union is bigger than an individual and I would want to reiterate that we shall demand a one-man-one vote at the congress.

I also want to ensure that all those who illegally possess properties of the union are held to account.

I would like to ensure that ZUJ rejoins the family of progressive media organizations other than isolating itself.

I want to prioritize the issue of legal representation of journalists instead of giving the burden to media organizations that do not deal directly with journalists.

I want to ensure that training programs are inclusive and ensure that the secretariat is run in a professional manner.

I want to engage employers so that royalties are paid to photojournalists for repeated use of their images. In this vein, I also want to engage employers so that that full-time and freelance reporters are paid in line with market standards.

I also want to ensure that journalists have unlimited access to the union's resource center at the headquarters. I would want to set up resource centers in all the country's provinces so that journalists can do their work with little or no problems at all.

As the world is changing very fast, your secretary general will ensure that ZUJ is twinned with other unions in developed countries. Under your secretary general's leadership, the rebranded ZUJ will seek to create partnerships that other media organizations, locally and internationally, that seek to promote media freedom and advance the interests of journalists.

Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretary General

ZUJ Congress 2009 Update

2009-11-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

The ZUJ congress has been set for December 4 2009. This day presents us with the opportunity to reclaim our union as professional journalists.

The union that we want should embrace transparency and accountability. ZUJ must be a membership-driven organization that treats its members without favour. The Union must also exercise its duties in terms of its founding principles and objectives. All programs of the union, including training, must not be discriminatory to members.

As your secretary general and custodian of the Union, I will ensure that all the business of the Union is done in a transparent manner giving members the power to drive the organization.

As your secretary general, I will work with all members to ensure that we rebrand ZUJ together into a formidable organization that respects its constitution and the membership. As your secretary general, I will push for limited terms of the executive and that all paid-up members are allowed to participate in congress business

I would also like to take this opportunity to inform all ZUJ members and partners that I will be launching my manifesto next week. Continue watching this space for more details and information

Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretary General

Takaona Defends ZMC and AIPPA

2009-09-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

The former ZUJ president, Mathew Takaona, last Saturday shocked journalists gathering for the annual general meeting of the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) in Harare when he defended the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the notorius AIPPA.

The former president, who is ironically eying a post in ZMC, itself a statutory body, also wants a position in VMCZ's board, raising questions of conflict of interest as VMCZ is pushing for self-regulation.

Takaona stunned delegates to the VMCZ meeting when he said the ZMC was an important establishment and heavily supported AIIPA saying it was a good law.

Several newspapers were shut down by the government since the promulgation of AIIPPA in March 2002 and quite a number of journalists were forced into exile, as a result.

It is surprising that the former ZUJ president, whose union has long advocated for self-regulation of journalists, was now calling ZMC a good establishment and AIPPA a good law.

Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretary General

Chikowore Calls For Takaona Probe

2009-09-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

Comrades, we hear that the former ZUJ president (in office illegally) Mathew Takaona is driving a Colt at night because he doesn't want to be seen by fellow union members who are angry with his prolonged stay in office and alleged abuse of the union's resources.

Yours truly, the incoming secretary general, condemns any form of corruption, both proved and yet to be proved.

I must say that a probe of Takaona's executive will be carried out once the new leadership is installed. I also challenge the former president to explain to the union's membership how he acquired the vehicle in question when in fact he is known more for being a ZUJ official than a journalist.

Vote Frank Chikowore for ZUJ secretary general

Takaona gatecrashes at Quill Club

2009-08-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

The defacto ZUJ leadership yesterday gatecrashed at Quill Club to hold a press conference with representatives of the visiting NUJ of UK at the national press club without informing the local executive. This infuriated management at Ambassador Hotel, which houses the press club.

It is mere protocol that the club executive is informed of any activities at the club for administrative planning purposes.

The management later confronted club chairperson Stanley Gama who said he was not aware of the presser. Gama told hotel management that he was busy organising the usual Quill Speak where the Zinasu leadership was expected to be panelists to discuss the crisis in the national students' umbrella body.

Although Takaona's presser went ahead, albeit in the absence of the ambushed executive, several journalists snubbed the conference saying long-time leader of ZUJ was holding office illegitimately. The conference was attended by three genuine journalists and a bunch of Takaona's cronies who are not journalists.

Takaona breached protocol by failing to liase with the executive and the snubbing clearly means that his days are numbered. Never mind his utterances that he will not contest in the overdue elections, the fight goes to the wire.

I wish to remind the electorate that the Save ZUJ Campaign team will not be hoodwinked into believing that Takaona will not be standing for election in the next polls. If he is serious, he should relinguish power today because his term of office has long expired and he should immediately allow an interim executive to take charge of affairs pending congress.

Aluta Continua

Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretary General

Takaona overstays

2009-08-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

Although matthew takaona has hinted that he would not contest for another term in office, I wish to remind him and his executive that they have overstayed. Takaona's two man executive should have left office when their term of office expired July 23 2009.

They are now holding office illegally.

Watch this space for more details

Takaona Disregards ZUJ Membership

2009-05-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

The de-facto ZUJ president, Mathew Takaona, unilaterally decided to represent the Union at the recent Kariba media all-stakeholders' conference. This was despite agreeing with his secretary Foster Dongozi, albeit without due process, that the union should not send a delegate to the indaba.
It is also shameful that Takaona duped his secretary into believing that he was not going to attend in protest of the re-detention of Andrison Shadreck Manyere but only phoned Dongozi when he was already on his way to check if there had been any developments on Manyere's case. After Dongozi reportedly told him that Manyere had not been released, Takaona proceeded to Kariba.
The ZUJ national executive should have met to decide whether to participate at the conference or not but Takaona took it upon himself to be the Union's face at the conference which was boycotted by several journalists.
Misa Zimbabwe, VMCZ, the Union of Freelance Journalists and other media organizations under the banner of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe did not attend because they could not wine and dine with media molesters at the shores of the Lake Kariba when one of their own was languishing in Chikurubi.
Then comes George Charamba. He says Manyere is not a journalist. Shame on you George. Are you aware that Manyere is a holder of four press cards issued by your favored Media and Information Commission which is now illegal in terms of law? Does Manyere have to tell you that he is a qualified journalist? Do you want him to bring his qualifications or certificates to your office to prove that he is a journalist? After all, Nathaniel Manheru is not a journalist.

NABJ Honours Persecuted Zim Journo

2009-05-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

By Mohamed Hassim Keita/Africa Research Associate

IRIN
On Thursday, the U.S.-based National Association of Black Journalists announced the winner of its 2009 Percy Qoboza Foreign Journalists Award: Zimbabwean journalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere. Half a world away, however, Manyere, left, lingered in a hospital in the capital, Harare, traumatized by nearly four months of imprisonment, according to his lawyer.
A freelance photojournalist, Manyere was snatched by security agents in December, held incommunicado for 11 days amid allegations of torture, and imprisoned in a maximum security prison until April. He was among more than 30 people swept up in a string of extrajudicial arrests that also included former news anchor Jestina Mukoko. In February, CPJ raised Manyere's case with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangiraï and called on him to lead the unity government in addressing Zimbabwe's long-standing press freedom woes.
In a statement, NABJ President Barbara Ciara said this year's prize recognized the "bravery and courage" of Manyere while "calling attention to the plight of many imprisoned journalists across Africa and the world."
"It's the best news I've heard this year," Manyere's lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, told me on Thursday. The journalist has been hospitalized since his release on bail from prison on April 17, he said. While the journalist had no visible physical injuries, Muchadehama said, he looked depressed from abuse he suffered in custody.
In fact, in an interview earlier this month with the U.N.-sponsored IRIN news service, Manyere said he was held in solitary confinement and given only "two liters of water a week." Muchadehama said Manyere was physically assaulted, blindfolded, interrogated for hours, and waterboarded. In January, Justice Gloria Takundwa of the High Court of Zimbabwe ordered police to investigate allegations of abuse and present a report. "He needs psychological treatment so he can become a normal person. It's going to be difficult," Muchadehama said. "If he was free of court allegations, I think his recovery would be quicker," he said.
In fact, Manyere still faces vague and unsubstantiated charges of banditry, sabotage, insurgency, and terrorism (a capital offense in Zimbabwe)--charges he denies. Muchadehama said Manyere's arrest could have been linked to suspicions that he was the author of photographs of torture victims in Zimbabwe that have appeared on the Internet.
Despite his condition however, state prosecutors have not relented in ongoing efforts to send him back to prison. They appealed the ruling granting Manyere bail and applied today for an arrest warrant against the journalist on the grounds that he was on the run. Calling Manyere a "victim of criminal kidnapping and enforced disappearance," Muchadehama said the defense is taking the state before the Zimbabwe Supreme Court, arguing that it could not prosecute a defendant whose due process rights had been violated.
As stated by NABJ's World Affairs Task Force Co-Chairman John Yearwood, we, too, hope that with the award, "we can see some positive change in Zimbabwe, positive change that has been way too long overdue."

Partson Matsikidze and Nkosana Mpofu: Rest in Peace

2009-04-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

The incoming secretary general Frank Chikowore learnt with shock the recent death of Partson Matsikidze and Nkosana Mpofu. The duo worked together at The Nation, a provincial newspaper in Matabeleland North Province that was owned by Mpofu before Matsikidze left to pursue greener pastures. Mpofu leaves behind a wife and two children while Matsikidze leaves behind his wife Lillian Kabwe, two sons Cleopas and Zigomo and daughter Susan.

May their souls rest in eternal peace.

Frank Chikowore Puts His Head On The Block

2009-04-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

I am offering myself for the position of Secretary General in the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. I have travelled to several parts of the country on a consultative process and the majority of the Union's membership has given me the thumbs up.

I wish to point out here as I launch my campaign that the time for corrupution at ZUJ is over, the time for personal agrandisement is over, the time for favouritism is over, say NO to segregation in union business and Vote Frank Chikowore for Secretray General.

Time is now for generational change! Time is now for leadership renewal! Time is now to reclaim our Union! Time is now to reclaim our profession!Say No to de-facto ZUJ president Matthew Takaona's leadership style. I wish to remind him that ZUJ is not a dynasty, neither is it a tuckshop nor Animal Farm. All I need is your vote to provide capable leadership at ZUJ.

I assure the Union's membership that all ZUJ business would be conducted in a democratic and transparent manner in line with the mandate of Congress.Vote Frank Chikowore for S-G.Hotline: 0912 963 673

Three man race - at least for now

2009-04-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

The post of ZUJ president has generated so much interest and three candidates are vying for that post. Former Daily News journalist Godwin Mangudya has long declared his interest and so has Isdore Guvamombe of Herald newspaper.

Not to be outdone is the de-facto president Mathew Takaona who will not give up easily. He has shown interest in retaining his position but the proggressive forces are mulling recalling him before the Congress.

But having more than one candidate challenging the incumbent ZUJ chief is likely to divide the congress votes in favour of Takaona. But the issue would be ironed out soon as the Tug Team would facilitate debate in that scope.

Watch this space.

Zindi vies for VP's post

2009-04-23T01:41:00.001-07:00

Zimpapers journalist, Emilia Zindi, has declared her interest in contesting the post of First Vice President within the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists.

She joins the progressive comrades like Frank Chikowore and Godwin Mangudya who have openly challenged Mathew Takaona's de-facto leadership.

The struggle continues and comrades are ready to take it to the wire. Its like an unstoppable tsunami.