Statement on Media Images of Sunningdale Fuel Tanker Accident

Tuesday, 14 June 2011.

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) wishes to advise all of its members, media houses and media stakeholders of the sensitivity of particular stories or photographs  concerning the personal grief and shock of members of the public. This is particularly so in the wake of the tragic fuel tanker explosion in the residential surburb of Sunningdale, Harare on the night of Saturday 11 June 2011.

Some of the images that have appeared in the media have led to telephone calls to the VMCZ offices wherein members of the public have stated that some of the pictures are not sensitive to members of the public who may have lost their loved ones in the aforementioned tragic accident.

In terms of Section 14 of the VMCZ Media Code of Conduct (MCC), which states, ‘in cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries should be carried out and approaches made with sympathy and tact’, it is of paramount importance that the media strikes a balance on the sensitivity of immediate news and the grief of affected relatives and friends.  It is also the VMCZ’s hope that due care and cognizance of Section 14 of the MCC  was taken by the various media houses that carried images of those that tragically perished in the horrendous accident.

Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe

We’re looking for a new domestic worker.  The last one left because she was getting married (logical?).  Forget the difficulties of actually training and living with a virtual stranger.  The search for a domestic is probably more tortuous.

As a starting point, it made sense to ask the out-going employee to recommend a replacement.  For us, that had always been a tried and tested method.  However, it proved to be trying and testing of us.  First, she said that she needed us to give her the details of the incumbent’s conditions of employment.  We obliged.  Then she wanted us to justify why her conditions were different from the new ones we were offering.  We gave her an explanation but soon found ourselves being interrogated on each and every point.  It wasn’t long before we were given front-row and centre seats to her protracted pity-parties.  In the end, she decided that she was no longer able to assist us … because of her husband, of course.

A little frazzled, we turned to family and friends for their help.  Unfortunately our quest churned out more horror stories than referrals.  We heard it all – about moodiness, going a.w.o.l., pilfering; of molesting maids and witching workers.  It all had us reconsidering whether we really needed domestic help.  Three days of doing laundry soon set that straight!

We broadened the search and sought assistance from neighbours.  No luck again, especially since somehow they got the impression that we were trying to poach their own domestic workers with the ‘showy’ working conditions we were offering.

The focus shifted to our neighbours in our rural area.  This time we wanted less references and more potential employees.  That became a learning experience.  Apparently, many in Matabeleland would prefer to seek work in South Africa than in Harare, which is viewed as a foreign nation.

We’re now toying with the idea of using a recruitment agency.  Having scanned the papers, we’ve come across ads that say, “For 18 – 45 years old maids, gardeners and cookers, please phone Shadi on 123456″.  Understandably, we’re a little hesitant to make that call and so the laundry basket piles higher and higher!

When you lose someone you love through an accident in which they are not at fault, the only consolation one can get is justice prevailing and the law catching up with the offender. In as much at it wont bring back the life of your lost one, you at least are guaranteed that such offenders will not walk free and continue to do the same offence and hurt other families too. Justice in Zimbabwe has been torn down over the years. The who’s who of the country seem to walk free from every court case.

The death of Shingie Chimuriwo left a gap in the world of women activism and a bigger one in her family. Shingie died on the 16 March after being involved in car accident with a drunken driver, who instead of stopping at an intersection, flew over it and hit her car on the driver’s side. The case was taken to court, and because this drunken driver is some high profile person in Harare, was merely fined USD400 and set free.

Driving under the influence of alcohol is an offence in Zimbabwe. And if one is found drunk and at the drivers wheel, the law should take its course, resulting in arrest. Worse still, if that drunken driver decides to drive and cause an accident that leads to loss of life or lives, the law should act and they should be charged with culpable homicide. Having such traffic offenders paying fines and getting released will only create a criminal infested country. Of which as Zimbabweans, this is not a scenario we would want.

If the Police are able to enforce laws such as the Criminal and Codification Act and arrest people then why shouldn’t the other laws be implemented in the same way? Imagine if one is to be charged for driving and talking on the cell phone, then we would expect a worse charge for those who cause accidents that lead to loss of life?

Read stories of the occurrence of Shingie’s death written by her husband, Fungai the founder of Zimbojam, Part one and Part two.

A report by the National AIDS Council (NAC) has revealed that more Zimbabwean women are accessing HIV and AIDS literature and anti-retroviral treatment compared to men. In the 2010 report the figures show that a total of 1,612,388 people were tested in the past 12 months of which 539,162 were men and 1,073,226 were female. The existing gap of is very wide and saddening.

It is now mandatory for every pregnant woman to undergo HIV tests to help prevent the passing of the virus to the baby (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission).  This reveals that when women go for these HIV tests their husbands do not go with them. Most men tend to rely heavily on the HIV status of their wives for them to hastily judge their own. If the wife is negative, they assume they are negative also. If the wife is positive, instead of assuming that they carry the same status too, like they would have done in the previous scenario, these men tend to leave their spouses and blame them bringing the virus into their homes.

In the same report it was also indicated that there was a decline in the HIV prevalence rate in Zimbabwe from 18.5% to 14.2%. This is something that is most welcome as it goes a long way in showing the fruitfulness of the efforts being made by the government and non-governmental organisations to curb the spread of the virus in the country.

However, even more can be done if more men take the initiative in going for HIV tests for them to know their status and prevent its spread to their partners.

“I know I didn’t get this job because I’m a woman; I got it because I’m the best qualified person,” she says. Nonetheless, what it means to me is that the executive editor of the New York Times is such an important position in our society, the Times itself is indispensable to society and a woman gets to run the newsroom — that’s meaningful.”

Jill Abramson is to become the first female editor of the New York Times in September. More