GOVERNMENT has listed journalists among providers of
essential services allowed to work during the lockdown to combat Covid-19.
Journalists join health workers and security forces among
others that are permitted to work during the lockdown.
On Sunday, President Mnangagwa extended the national
lockdown to May 3 as part of measures to fight the spread of Covid-19.
The lockdown which started on March 30, was meant to expire
at midnight on Sunday. Following the extension of the lockdown, Government on
Sunday published Statutory Instrument 93 of 2020 listing journalism as an
essential service.
“This order may be cited as the Public Health (Covid-19
Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) (Amendment) Order,
2020 (No. 3). 2. The Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and
Treatment) (National Lockdown) Order, 2020 , published in Statutory Instrument
83 of 2020 (hereinafter called “the principal order”), is amended in section 2
(“Interpretation”)—(a) in the definition of “essential service” by the repeal
of paragraph (j) and the substitution of— “(j) communications and
telecommunication services, including the Internet, any public or licensed
broadcasting service, and the activities of persons as journalists, newspaper
vendors or employees of such services,” reads part of the SI 93 of 2020.
Before the SI, members of the media had been allowed to
carry on with their jobs upon the production of a Zimbabwe Media Commission
(ZMC) accreditation card, but there were reported incidents of journalists
allegedly being harassed by security forces deployed to enforce the lockdown.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) commended
Government for SI 93 saying journalists, print or broadcast, all have the same
role of informing the nation on Covid-19 developments.
ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi urged media companies,
NGOs, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the corporate sector to recognise
the development by providing or donating protective clothing to journalists
covering Covid-19 to ensure that they don’t contract or spread the virus while
on duty.
“As ZUJ we welcome this development by Government in
recognising us as an essential service.
“There is therefore the need now to prioritise the health
and safety of journalists by the Government, WHO, corporate world and employers
by providing them with PPE so that they conduct their job of information
dissemination while protected or protecting the people they are covering,” he
said.
Dongozi urged the security forces to work well with
journalists in the fight against Covid 19.
Chairperson of Southern Africa Editors Forum (SAEF), Willie
Muponda also described the recognition of journalists as a welcome development.
“However, the issue of safety of journalists when covering
Covid-19 stories needs to be addressed as most lack experience on how risky the
beat is.
“The Ministry of Health and Child Care needs to educate
journalists as well so that they don’t risk spreading or contracting the virus
in their line of work,” he said. Herald
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