Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The newly-elected Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) president, George Maponga a long-serving Herald Masvingo Bureau Chief has said journalists deserve a living wage.
Maponga’s election to the ZUJ helm during elections held in Harare recently comes nine years after the last Congress with a number of challenges hamstringing efforts to convene another Congress as mandated by the constitution.
Following his election, Maponga spoke to The Herald in an interview revealing the plans he has for ZUJ and issues affecting journalism in the country.
He said while it feels good to be at the helm of ZUJ, he cannot underestimate the magnitude of the work ahead to reenergise the union “so that it can once again reclaim its yesteryear status as the union of choice for journalists in Zimbabwe.”
Asked on what he intended to do to improve the welfare of journalists during his tenure considering that the problem of poor remuneration in the industry has repeatedly been a topical issue, Maponga said:
Poor remuneration remains a blemish in the local media industry giving rise to vices like brown envelope journalism and the first port of call should be engaging government for the industry to come up with a National Employment Council(NEC) for the media industry. I am happy that Government through the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, hinted at our just-ended elective Congress, that it was ready to discuss the issue of coming up with a NEC for the media industry. This will be handy in dealing with the problem of poor salaries. Journalists should get and deserve a living wage. It does not help for journalists to be famous yet they live from hand to mouth and in penury. Journalists are vital cogs in building prosperous nation because they have a duty to objectively interrogate and report truthfully and factually but all this can be compromised by brown envelopes. He who pays the piper plays the tune! The media should be the voice of the voiceless and play a watchdog role but journalists as the media foot soldiers cannot do that on empty tummies.
He added that there are plans to initiate engagements with the Government at various levels to ensure journalists benefit when projects in spheres like mining, agriculture and housing are rolled out.
Maponga said he has 17 years in the industry after he got permanently employed by the Herald in 2003 after graduating from college the same year. He was immediately posted to Masvingo that same year to man the Masvingo Bureau office.
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