ZUJ elections the truth

ON February 27, 2010, The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists(ZUJ) held a congress re-run which took place in Bulawayo.

The congress and elections were re-run following a High Court application which challenged the procedure of the initial congress held in Hillside, Bulawayo, and not at How Mine as alleged in some publications.

The Union leadership decided to comply with the High Court order sought.

This, it was felt, would help clear any lingering doubts about the initial congress outcome and to help unite the journalism fraternity.

Just before the congress re-run could begin, a journalist, Nqobani Ndlovu, presented me with an unsigned document allegedly written by five journalists, including himself and listing a number of grievances.

He asked me to comment on the document and I pointed out to him that I was busy since our congress was about to begin. I informed him that I would be free to grant him an interview after congress.

When I briefly perused the document, I pointed out that he could not expect me to comment on an unsigned document.

I further pointed out to him that surely he could not be one of the complainants because instead of his name being written as Nqobani, it was written as Qobani.

He then went away saying he was being barred from the elections. He continued to phone me during the meeting from his office number and I told him to call later.

Before elections could begin, Zimbabwe Election Support Network officers and the Zuj national coordinator received calls from Harare asking them about reports that some journalists, among them Conrad Mwanwashe, were being barred from participating in the elections.

The elections did not begin until the observers and monitors had satisfied themselves that nobody was being barred from the process.

Some veteran journalists, among them Ray Matikinye, Isaac Waniwa And Arnold Mutemi sat through the election process.

Let me also point out that Zesn monitored the elections. The elections were conducted by representatives from civic society in partnership with Bulawayo Agenda and the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet).

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and its sister federation in the USA, the Solidarity Centre, were observers. We await their reports on the election process.

Another unprofessional development was when one of the litigants continued to telephone Zesn claiming that he was outside the voting venue and being barred from contesting. Further checks established that the journalist was nowhere near the congress venue but in Harare. A team of ob... ...

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