malvernmugadzikwa
Online Reporter
GOVERNMENT, through law-enforcement agents, will continue to guarantee the safety of journalists as they discharge their duties, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana has said.
He was speaking during the graduation ceremony of the Advanced International Training Programme in Media Development in a Democratic Framework in Harare on Friday.
Mr Mangwana said media stakeholders need to draw up sustainable operational guidelines to help stop violence against media practitioners.
“Like what the President has said, the safety of journalists is guaranteed by the Zimbabweans themselves.
“The safety of journalists is guaranteed by our law-enforment agents by making sure they are not abused or there is no aggression towards them from citizens, corporates and from anybody they have written something about,” he said.
“When it comes to the security of this country, we have institutions for that.”
Nobody, he said, should take the law into their own hands.
He applauded the cordial relations that exist between Zimbabwe and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), which bankrolled the one-year programme.
“Although our relationship started on a suspicion page, we are happy that now we trust each other and we are sharing almost same sentiments on the safety of our media practitioners,” he said.
Mr Mangwana handed over certificates to five participants who graduated from the programme.
International Training Programme national facilitator Mr Nigel Nyamutumbu said: “Training like this offers not only exposure, but getting into context of where some the international agreements come from and how the global family define media regulation.”
Zimpapers group editorial executive Mr William Chikoto, who was among the participants, said the programme was crucial and contributed to the harmonious working relationship between media and other stakeholders, especially law-enforcement agents.
“The programme has been feasible on implementation. For the first time, in the recent elections, I do not recall any journalist that was arrested or beaten up,” he said.
“If you compare with other years, we used to hear higher cases of violations against media practitioners.”
Those who received certificates include the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services deputy director legal services Ms Belinda Chitote; the immediate past chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media Ms Sipho Mokone; media trainer and chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Mr Golden Maunganidze; Zimpapers editorial executive Mr William Chikoto; and Ms Betty Munowenyu, who works in the research department at the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
Bongani Ndlovu