THIS IS LIFE

By Susan Mwape in Grahamstown The on going Highway Africa Conference taking place in Grahamstown at Rhodes University is an anual event that attracts over 500 journalists from the continent and beyond. The conference will be taking place 9-12 September 2007. With large number of Media and ICT experts from around the continent and beyond sharing information and skilss one can only begin to understand what a vast opportunity and capacity all the journalists at the conference get from all the networking and presentations and trainings. surely the organisers of the conference have a great vision of the continent, media fratenity and ICT sector. One of the Major discussions at this years conference have bordered a lot of Blogging and Journalism, these seesions have been an eye opener for a large number of delegates at the conference. During a presentation titled "Bloggers who are they talking to?" Sunday Times of South Africa Colomist Fredd Khumalo, expressed his appreciation f

By Susan Mwape The Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance (SAGPA) is disappointed that SADC leaders failed to walk the talk of gender equality at their just ended summit in Lusaka by not signing the Protocol on Gender and Development. According to a press release sent out by Gender Links, “as representatives of sixteen regional and national NGOs working to promote the rights of women in the region, we are at a loss as to why heads of state failed to seize the moment of the 2007 summit after the draft had successfully passed through all the preparatory stages. This included endorsement by ministers of gender; justice ministers and the Council of Ministers that generally comprises finance ministers from the region”. The Protocol was deferred to next year’s summit due to a minority of members feeling that they have not had sufficient time to study the draft, regional representatives were concerned that the action would slow down the momentum in countries that went to Lusaka ready to ta

By Susan Mwape The Zambian Government is tabling a new NGO Bill in the current sitting of Parliament, which commenced on the 10th of July 2007, the bill is aimed at further regulating and controlling all Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, Faith Based Organisations and Community Based Organisations in Zambia. The new NGO Bill according to the Zambian Civil Society is purported to have been developed without having a broad-based policy framework in place and without any prior consultation with Civil Society and then denying Civil Society access to the Bill. Three mother bodies of civil society organizations in Zambia which include the Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD), Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) and Non Governmental Coordinating committee (NGOCC) formed a technical committee whose representatives were denied audience which the Ministry of Justice, to discuss the issue. The biggest question within the Civil Society is whether Government