Communications Officer: local NGO
Deadline: 21 December 2011

Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced persons to fill in the position of Communications Officer that has arisen within a local NGO. The position is for contract period of eight (8) months.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Organize meetings and workshops

Documentation of meetings and workshops

Facilitating community based planning meetings

Formulating Strategies for internal and external communication including management of the organization website

Develop instruments of communication needed to attain the objectives of the organization

Establish rapport with the relevant media organizations

Design and facilitate the production of the quarterly newsletter

Facilitating the production of the annual reports

Arranging for the organisation’s participation at various exhibitions

Any other duties that may be delegated from time to time by the Supervisor

Qualifications and experience

Degree in Journalism or related field

Computer skills including management of website

Holder of a clean class four driving license

Hands on experience in advocacy, lobby and production of IEC materials including news letter for at least three years

Personal attributes

Good oral and written communication skills at all levels

Fluent in Shona and English

A goal getter

A self-starter

Ability to work under minimum supervision

Applications should be submitted to the Human Resources and Administration Officer Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe, 9A William Gale Close, Marlborough, Harare by not later than Tuesday 21 December 2011.

Or email matenda [at] fctz [dot] org [dot] zw

It was interesting – but for the wrong reasons – to watch the just ended Zanu PF conference when we saw party apparatchiks many had dismissed as too frail to threaten a mosquito coming alive to punch fists in the air in the tired “down with..” sloganeering. Men who have been of perpetual poor health appeared for the Bulawayo jaunt with pallid looks that told stories about badly needed convalesce but chose instead to race their hearts keeping company with loud crowds.

Rather disturbingly, you could see a guy like Simon Khaya Moyo with cheeks looking like they were waiting for slight provocation to explode while at the same time you could see chaps sitting at the high table looking rather under-fed, only because of obvious poor health. For curious unsympathetic observers it appeared natural to wonder if these chaps were indeed feeding from the same trough! You could also see the party’s chief doctor of spin looking like he had seen a ghost. He sure could have used the weekend to rest or visit some health spa, and this in a country where we have acquired physician skills where we give strangers full medicals by just looking at them. This indeed has become the favourite pastime of many in this beloved country and this is enjoyed especially when the person under observation is from Zanu PF! Just ask Webster Shamu who whined a few months ago that people always wish him and his colleagues ill health, or something to that effect.

Then there was the VP John Nkomo who did not look his physical best, and a teacher friend based in the rural parts of Matebeleland said folks are asking why the Ndebeles are punishing one of other own by not retiring him seeing he is not the young man he used to be. I myself wondered if at all Zanu PF has a clause in its constitution that denies members the right to retire early on health grounds. Otherwise from watching the conference, it became obvious that we are once again being set up for that dreadful prospect of ruling until one is stopped only by the intervention of God’s ways that serve as a reminder that we are just but human. This in no way is a jibe at anyone’s poor health, but rather a beaming of the spotlight on the bane of African politics where there still lingers that obnoxious spirit of entitlement that, because one lost years in the bush or prison fighting white oppression, they must rule as long as they breathe, never mind that they have become drooling imbeciles or headed the way of the Ngwazi Kamuzu Banda who had no clue how old he was in his last years but would have continued as Malawi president if he could have had his way! Okay, so what happens to the aspirations of the children of these former combatants dreaming about entering active politics? Does it mean they will never ascend to the higher ranks of the nationalist parties as long their fathers live?

Yet the rump-shaking ladies of the women’s league seemed to be having a ball gyrating in front of men who sat with their hands folded, and in the privacy of their minds dared the old leader and ogled. You just had to ask yourself about women and politics and the rhetoric that even came from Emmerson Mnagagwa about gender parity within the party ranks. But then you could see the favoured positions for women, definitely not on top! So it was that, with an aging Mugabe being endorsed as party candidate for the polls he wants next year for obvious reasons seeing Father Time waits for no Man, the country was reminded once again that there is no place for renewal here. The young and reckless ought to know their place: warming up for the bludgeoning of political opponents ahead of the elections Tendai Biti has already said promise to be another blood bath. And young Jabulani Sibanda, knowing only too well where his bread is buttered was there to represent!

The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) 3, detained since Sunday, were granted bail today. But the state invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act to further prolong their detention until 16 December.

Read more from Radio VOP here

LONDON, United-Kingdom, December 9, 2011/ — Legatum (http://www.legatum.com), a private international investment group and Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm, today announced that SECURICO has won the US $100,000 grand prize of the 2011 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship (http://www.AfricaAwards.com).  Based in Harare, Zimbabwe, SECURICO provides guarding services and electronic security solutions, and is the first security company in Zimbabwe to be ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) certified. SECURICO has more than 3,400 employees, 900 of which are women, making it the largest employer of women in the private sector. The company exemplifies the vital role played by entrepreneurs in creating economic growth, prosperity, and realising opportunity in Africa.

African press Organisation

Find out more:

- Zimbabwe ten years on: Results and prospects, Sam Moyo & Paris Yeros
- Fast Track Land Reform and Agricultural Productivity in Zimbabwe, Precious Zikhali
- Zimbabwe’s land reform: A summary of findings, Ian Scoones, Nelson Marongwe, Blasio Mavedzenge, Felix Murimbarimba, Jacob Mahenehene & Chrispen Sukume

Contact African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS)

From Women in Law in Southern Africa … here’s a copy of an order from the High Court of Zimbabwe in a case that challenged the authority of the Registrar General to compel married women to change their surnames into those of their husbands.

The order was issued by consent but it was a declaratory order so it protects all women in similar circumstances.  Hats off to Saru Njerere of Honey and Blackenberg who represented the applicants.