Chronicle Editor
IN a bid to empower media practioners in Zimbabwe, the government has announced plans to set up a housing scheme that will benefit at least 1 000 journalists across the country.
The announcement was made by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Kindness Paradza during the burial of New Ziana editorial consultant and veteran journalist Fanwell Sibanda on Tuesday.
Sibanda died last Saturday at the Wilkins Hospital from suspected lung infection. He was 58.
Paradza said the government has partnered with a local estate agent to build houses for journalists throughout the country as a way of improving their welfare.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to do a ground-breaking ceremony for the housing scheme soon.
“We are worried about the welfare of our journalists. As Government, we have partnered with a local estate agent to have 1 000 apartments constructed for journalists.
“We will start with Harare and go to other provinces. We will offer the apartments to journalist and they will pay on a rent to buy arrangement.
“We have seen that because of their meagre salaries, a lot of our journalists are not able to buy houses and banks are also not able to provide that to them,” he said.
Paradza said the paperwork for the commencement of the joint project, which has the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities and that of Information was already underway and the project would be rolled out soon.
“We want to uplift the journalism profession to another level, where they do not die as destitutes,” he said.
Since journalists do not have a National Employment Council, the ministry was going to bring media owners together so that they set up a NEC, which would standardise salaries for the industry.
Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust executive secretary Raymond Mungoshi said Sibanda passed on at a time they were working on rebranding New Ziana’s Community Newspapers Group, which has eight provincial newspapers.
-New Ziana
Online Reporter