---

---

Zimbabwe: I Never Thought I Would Be A Journalist - Sandra Nyaira

Charles Cobb Jr.

16 October 2002

---

interview

Washington, DC — Sandra Nyaira, political editor of the Daily News, one of Zimbabwe's toughest independent journalistic voices, receives a 'Courage in Journalism' award this week from the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF). At 27 she is Zimbabwe's youngest-ever political editor.

"She works amid almost daily harassment in a country with one of the worst press freedom records in the world," said the Foundation in a statement announcing the award.

Nyaira is one of three recipients of the IWMF award this year. The other two are Associated Press correspondent Kathy Gannon for her reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Anna Politkovskaya of the independent Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, for her reporting on the war in Chechnya.

Since its launch two years ago, Zimbabwe's Daily News has been consistently critical of President Mugabe, his government, and the ruling party - the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF). As a result, the newspaper has been under almost constant attack. Most dramatically, just a few weeks before Zimbabwe's March 2001 presidential elections, the Bulawayo offices of the News were petrol bombed in the early morning hours. The paper's vendor's have been beaten on the street. In April 2001, Nyaira, another reporter and the editor-in-chief of the Daily News were arrested and charged with "criminal defamation" because of articles she wrote accusing senior members of the government of corruption.

Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has blasted the Daily News for defiling "traditional norms" and attempting to undermine the country's values. "This is no longer the freedom of expression," he was quoted as saying last June. "The time has come to defend our values, culture and indeed humanity... for decent people to put a stop to this madness. We will start raising questions to those that advertise in papers that insult our dignity as Africans"

Tough new laws, enacted after President Mugabe's election victory, place a threat of two-years imprisonment over the heads of all independent journalists in Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, says Nyaira, although she stumbled into news reporting, she is in it for the long haul. Fighting to sustain independence in journalism is one of Zimbabwe's best hopes, she said in an interview with AllAfrica. Excerpts:

After the election, the government enacted two laws which directly affect you and other journalists in Zimbabwe: The Access to Information Act which licensees to journalists are given by the government, and the Public Order and Security Bill, which criminalizes false statements that are prejudicial to the state. What does this mean for journalists, and you in particular as a journalist who sometimes seems a special target of the government's anger with the press?

The government is basically trying to muzzle the independent media; trying to make sure that at least we don't write as many critical articles about the president himself because that Public Order and Security Act actually inhibits people from writing anything bad about the president or from saying anything that they [government] considers not in order. They are trying to scare you off from writing about real issues. It is very essential for journalists to expose corruption, mismanagement of the economy, violation of human rights and related issues. So what these laws mean is that this is a government that is basically insecure and wants to use everything in their power to stop the media from writing about them.

What about the status of your own court case, your suit against Information Minister Jonathan Moyo?

This has been pending since before the elections. The courts for some reason have been very quiet about the whole issue. But then I got a scholarship from the British Council to leave the country for one year to do my Masters degree and just before I left - boom! - they give us a date to go to court in September. I just couldn't believe it. So my lawyer went to the judge, Hilda Mungwira, to make an application asking for a postponement because I was going to school out of the country and that I could not afford to wait for this court case. She said fine, that she would look into it. As my days for going to school drew nearer she finally said that she could not postpone the case. My lawyer was basically saying I should give evidence before I go and the rest of the case could be finished while I was away in school. But she refused and said she couldn't do that. She said she would have to wait until next year when I come back.

Can the government keep you out of Zimbabwe, prevent you from returning?,

You never know. But Zimbabwe is my country and I don't think they can stop me from going in. It's not like someone from outside, but you really never know what they can do.

Will you talk some about how a young woman like yourself got involved in journalism and how you moved from the government-owned Zimbabwe Inter-African News Agency (Ziana) to a paper like the Daily News?

I never thought I would be a journalist in my life. When I was growing up, in high school, my father was very, very tough on me. I was very bad in mathematics. So he didn't want me involved in any extra-curricular activities. He wanted me to have as many extra lessons as possible.

Then one day, my classmates were invited to go to career day workshops at the Harare Polytechnic and the University of Zimbabwe. They went; I did not because I had to do an extra lesson in mathematics. And when they came back they were telling me about this wonderful studio that they had seen at Harare Polytechnic. I was so much in love with music and as they were telling me about the studio I could picture the studio and I fell in love with this studio that I had never seen before. I said to myself: I want to be a journalist; I want to be a radio journalist.

When I finished high school I then applied to Harare Polytechnic, and they asked me to come for an interview. They accepted me, but when I got there I decided to do print journalism instead of radio journalism. And that's how I got into the journalism world.

My first job was with a government organization - the Community Newspapers of Zimbabwe. I left after three or four months. The editor and chief of Ziana asked me if I was interested in a job there. I was, and so I went and worked for Ziana from 1996 to 1999. It was quite a challenging job.

I must say that Ziana was one of the very few independent organizations in Zimbabwe. It was as if it was not a government-controlled organization. The government was not very much involved in the running of Ziana. The old Ziana used to be a very good news agency, actually one of the best news agencies in Africa. The editor-in-chief was a very nice person, a very hard-working person, Henry Muradzikwa. He let us do our stories. There was no censorship, nothing like that.

Then the government realized that Ziana was actually writing critical stories, which were getting out to the world. And so when Jonathan Moyo came in [as Information Minister] he decided to dismantle it. He fired the editor-in-chief and so many other editors. They were basically angry at Ziana for the simple reason of telling it like it is, telling the other side of the story. They wanted them to tell just one side of the story. And right now, Ziana, of all the state-controlled news agencies, is still in a quandary. Sometimes the reporters go for months without salary.

So when the Daily news was formed in 1999, I was the bureau chief for Ziana in Manicaland...

You were also the youngest bureau chief for Ziana.

Yes. I guess I had very good bosses. They taught us to come up with good stories ahead of all the others. They also realized that I was doing a better job than my male counterparts, especially in Manicaland. I remember covering one occasion -- a Zimbabwe Farmers Union person who was very critical of the government. It was late, and they just couldn't believe how I could come up with a story so much faster than all the other journalists in the area. It was because of sheer hard work and really wanting to be recognized as a woman. When you are a woman journalist, you have to work twice as hard - much more harder than your male counterparts.

Be the first to Write a Comment!

---