An international women’s conference ended in Harare on Thursday with participants agreeing to pressure the leaders of country's three governing parties to step up the pace of Zimbabwean media reform.
Women’s Coalition Deputy Chairwoman Rutendo Hadebe said delegates agreed meaningful change won’t come unless the government opens the airwaves and licenses new independent newspapers.
Hadebe said women from the region and beyond taking part in the conference agreed to support and strengthen the role of Zimbabwean women in governance and in the ongoing - if slow - constitutional revision process.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, the founding president of Realizing Rights, and team members from Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, led a high level mission to Zimbabwe, engaging senior officials including President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, and visiting to Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Matabeleland provinces.
