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 observers and monitors, led by ZESN, went out to verify the claims which turned out to be false.

One of the complainants, Nqobani or Qobani, as his name was printed on the list of complainants, went on to unethically write a story which was unbalanced and full of inaccuracies, including quoting from a document which he said he had co-authored. The story appeared in a newspaper where he is employed.

While colleagues are free to run for any office in the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), we believe ethical conduct should be maintained at all times, even if we differ on any subject.

Our expectations are that with the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) now in place, more media players will be licensed and hence increasing the number of working journalists.,It would be a sad day when these developments happen, and the only trade union representing journalists in the country has been destroyed or is at its weakest.

Efforts have been made to discourage our partner organisations from funding our operations. These have, however, found no takers among the donors who value and appreciate the critical role that ZUJ plays.

Another attempt to divide journalists has been made through efforts to compartmentalise or paddock journalists based on who their employers are. In an era where we are talking of unity and inclusivity, surely a journalist does not cease to be a good trade unionist because he is employed in the public or private media. Politicians and employers are slowly finding each other while some of us pursue divisive agendas.

Some of the leading advocates for press freedom and freedom of expression in Zimbabwe have at one time or another worked for the public media. Journalists have crossed the so called ‘media divide’ at the drop of a hat, indicating that the majority are workers first and have free spirits which enable them  to move on.

And there are many journalists who have worked for Zimpapers, ZIANA, ZBC and The Community Newspapers Group who have joined the private media. Should those people then be lynched for having worked for those organisations? How many have ever owned any shares in any of the organisations that they have worked for? We have been workers, and that is it.

I exit with the example of a veteran and well respected journalist and I apologise if this will offend him. After I left Zimpapers, as did many who are now in the privately owned media, I met Bill Saidi at The Daily News and there were many who had come from the public media.

When The Daily News was banned in 2003, we would meet at The Standard newspaper. Bill is now at The Herald and in which paddock would you put him? Public media, private media or he is just a good old journalist? No pun intended.

Foster Dongozi is the Secretary General, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists