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ZUJ president Michael Chideme

Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE Union of Journalists and Misa-Zimbabwe’s hypocrisy has been exposed following their silence on attacks on The Herald by ousted Zanu-PF chairperson for Mashonaland West, Cde Themba Mliswa at Vice President Joice Mujuru’s graduation party in Dotito on Saturday. While chanting slogans during his remarks, Cde Mliswa said, “Pasi neHerald”.

ZUJ and Misa-Zimbabwe last week condemned the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe when she alleged that journalists working for the private media were bribed to tarnish her image.

They claimed her sentiments were tantamount to intimidating journalists working for private media organisations, but they have been silent on direct attacks against The Herald by Cde Mliswa.

Media practitioners on Monday condemned the two institutions for being selective in their censure.
Executive dean of the faculty of Communication and Information Science at the National University of Science and Technology, Dr Lawton Hikwa said journalists’ safety must be at the core of unions’ mandate regardless of which organisation they worked for.

“There shouldn’t be selectiveness whether a journalist serves in the public or private media because they should be there to protect the interests of journalists,” he said.

“Unions must be seen to be standing without fear or favour with journalists. Given the fact that politicians will always aim at journalists whenever they feel the media are not covering their interests, when it comes to chastising public figures, unions must be neutral.

“They can’t be seen to be favouring a particular media at the expense of the other. They should be objective when they issue statements of censure to either side.”

A lecturer at Midlands State University who spoke on condition of anonymity said legitimacy of the two unions hinged on their impartiality in discharging their duties.

“It will not do them any favour when they are seen to be involving themselves in the on-going politics by widely opening their mouths when one side is offended, but zip the same mouths when the other is under attack,” said the lecturer.

ZUJ president Michael Chideme, yesterday said: “When Amai Mugabe spoke we took about a week to respond. We don’t just rush to react before understanding the context.

“Like we have always said, we condemn statements by public figures that put the lives of journalists at risk. As a union, we campaign for the safety of journalists as provided for by the African Union and the United Nations.

“So, we expect politicians to also uphold the safety of journalists and discourage their supporters or members from fuelling hatred against journalists.”
Efforts to get a comment from Misa-Zimbabwe were fruitless.