Journalists urged not to pull punches on NDS1 reportage

Harare (New Ziana) – Journalists have been urged not to pull their punches when reporting on strategies being pursued by theSecond Republic towards achieving targets espoused in the NationalDevelopment Strategy 1 (NDS1).

Speaking at the Minex organised Mining Media Awards on Friday,
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Minister, Dr Jenfan
Muswere said the media should discharge its duty objectively and
impactfully, highlighting in equal measure, areas where miners have
excelled and where they need to be brought to order.

“The Second Republic is currently working on establishing processing
plants for minerals such as lithium, manganese, coal, iron ore and
others. Our reportage should therefore shift towards the strategies
being pursued by the Second Republic in meeting the goals and targets
espoused in the National Development Strategy 1, chief among them value
addition and beneficiation of our minerals,” Dr Muswere said in a speech
read on his behalf by the director for international communication
services in the ministry, Richard Mahomva.

He expressed appreciation that the awards were specially introduced to
capacitate and honour impactful journalism in the mining value chain
considering mining is one of the current drivers of economic growth that
targets to develop into a US$40 billion sector economy by 2030.

Mining accounts for 16 percent of GDP and 60 percent of foreign currency
receipts and employs an estimated 1.5 million people, making it the
second largest employer after agriculture.

Mining also supports downstream industries such as manufacturing,
engineering and construction, exports generation, and tax revenues for
the Government.

“I am therefore gratified that the awards are recognition of the strong
relationship that exists between the media and the mining stakeholders,”
he said. “The mining media awards are a platform that brings the mining
value chain together with the media to create a harmonious relationship
and synergies for sustainable economic growth.”

Dr Muswere encouraged journalists to invest in research to come up with
informative and educational mining stories that encourage Zimbabweans to
build the Zimbabwe they want.

“Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. Every Zimbabwean, through your stories,
should understand the value of the God given rare earth metals that we
have in our country,” he said.

The awards started 11 years ago after former Mines and Mining
Development Minister, Winston Chitando who now heads Local Government
and Public Works got thwarted from landing a US$500 mining deal for the
Chamber of Mines in neighbouring South Africa by a false story on mining
in Zimbabwe that was published while he was in the midst of
negotiations.

Munyaradzi Hwengere of Minex, which has organised the awards over those
11 years said: “As he was in the middle of discussions, there was a news
flash from Zimbabwe which was very negative and actually not true. What
happened is that the same investment deal collapsed. He came back and
told us that he thought that the gap between the media and the mining
industry was too wide and asked what was needed to be done to break it.”

New Ziana