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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Letters to the editor: Attacks on journalists must be condemned

Letters
The four, comprising Toneo Rutsito, Tongai Mwenje, Pellagia Mpurwa and Chelsea Mashayambire, were allegedly beaten by at least 12 suspected ruling party activists for filming the party’s campaign activities that were being held adjacent to those of the CCC.

THE Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) condemns the recent attack by alleged Zanu PF supporters of four Techmag TV crew members for filming activities at competing ruling Zanu PF and opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) campaign rallies in Gokwe, Midlands province on Thursday.

The four, comprising Toneo Rutsito, Tongai Mwenje, Pellagia Mpurwa and Chelsea Mashayambire, were allegedly beaten by at least 12 suspected ruling party activists for filming the party’s campaign activities that were being held adjacent to those of the CCC.

The two rallies were reportedly held about 800 metres apart.

The four Techmag crew have since filed a police report (RRB Number 5075126) at Chitekete Police Station in Gokwe.

The heinous attack, which saw Rutsito reportedly losing a tooth and Mwenje sustaining a deep gash on the forehead, goes against the spirit of promoting freedom of the media in the country.

Journalists/media workers should be allowed to do their work without having to fear for their safety.

Security of journalists is a constitutional issue and should always be guaranteed by both political actors and government security agencies.

ZUJ, therefore, calls upon the police to thoroughly investigate the alleged assault of the journalists in Gokwe and bring the culprits to book in what the union hopes will send a loud and clear message to all merchants of violence that freedom of the media should be upheld always and everywhere.

There should be no compromise.- ZUJ

Stop intensifying xenophobic climate, politicisation of healthcare at hospitals ONGOING xenophobic protests outside Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Tshwane are preventing patients, including migrants, from accessing the facility.

These actions must be rejected and should trigger urgent action by health authorities and leaders to protect access to healthcare for all.

Operation Dudula supporters have been protesting outside the hospital for three weeks, chanting threatening statements through loud hailers and preventing many from entering the facility.

On Thursday morning, several people were turned away by the protestors based on their appearance and accent.

The protestors are putting the hospital staff under immense pressure with demands that all foreigners be removed.

They have even demanded that critically ill patients who are migrants must be “unplugged” and taken out.

Hostility to serving migrants in South Africa’s health facilities has been intensifying, fuelled by inflammatory and political statements from government officials, including Limpopo province Health Member of the Executive Council, Phophi Ramathuba, who was recently recorded berating a Zimbabwean patient in a health facility, claiming that migrants are overburdening the health system.

If migrants are fearful for their safety in entering or leaving health facilities, and if health workers are placed under pressure to behave as immigration officers, the consequences will be felt across the population.

One major concern as the politicisation of healthcare expands is that serious notifiable diseases could go unrecorded and untreated, which will inhibit the public healthcare system’s overall capacity and ability to contain infectious disease outbreaks.

One of the patients denied care in Kalafong Hospital on Thursday was a 37-weeks pregnant migrant woman with high blood pressure, who instead had to seek help from a local clinic.

Clinics are not equipped to provide tertiary care for complex cases such as these which require access to a specialist and certain medications that are only available at hospital level.

When patients are denied the appropriate level of care initially, their conditions often worsen and they return as emergency patients.

Their risk of becoming more ill or dying is thus greatly increased, as is the cost to the government.

Nobody benefits and the most vulnerable suffer disproportionately regardless of their nationality or legal status.

Denial of healthcare at Kalafong Hospital is being caused by protestors, but there is an increasing trend in Gauteng province whereby migrants are denied access to services by facility staff.

MSF, through its operations in Tshwane, has recorded several cases where migrants with a legitimate right of access to health have been denied care.

Many of these instances involve access to maternal and child health, which is guaranteed under South Africa’s constitution and through various laws and healthcare policies.

MSF urges national and provincial health authorities to ensure that gatherings and threatening groups are immediately removed from hospital entrances, and that all people in South Africa requiring health services are properly assisted with impartial medical care and treated with dignity.- Doctors Without Borders

African women need to tell their own stories

AFRICA New Media Group is delighted to announce that its signature brand for African women, YAZA AFRICA has been named the official media partner for the International Images Film Festival for Women.

The festival returns for its 19th edition this year in Harare under the directorship of acclaimed director and writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga.

The IIFF is an international festival returning to the world stage after the COVID-19 pandemic to inspire positive images of women, interrogate, debate, and celebrate the world of women through film.

The event gives women a platform to tell their own stories and shape the narrative of what it means to be an African woman.

This year’s festival’s theme Women at Crossroads gives filmmakers an opportunity to explore the tough choices women are faced with in today’s world and how they can best make decisions that work for them and society.

IIFF director Tsitsi Dangarembga is keen on using the event to raise more awareness on such issues.

Speaking of this new media partnership, she noted: “The IIIF is intentional about providing a platform for African women to tell their stories. This is crucial because they are faced with difficult choices and it’s important to talk about these issues and bring that into the public consciousness. That’s why we are excited to work with partners like YAZA who share in this vision and will help us bring our message and our festival to audiences across Africa and the world.”

Agnes Amondi, the principal in charge of the project for YAZA AFRICA, added: “Now more than ever, black women want to tell their own stories and that’s why this partnership with the International Images Film Festival is important to us. We are giving them the chance to talk about the issues they care about, and we are more than delighted to do that.”-ICAPA TRUST