Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) has called on the Government to bail out state media workers (e.g. Daily Mail, Times of Zambia). It draws its membership from the state media. ZUK president James Muyanwa says :
Our members at Times Printpak Zambia Limited, have suffered for a long time now. The workers have been getting their salaries late for about four years now. For instance, currently they are in two-month salary arrears, and have literally been surviving by the grace of God.....Given this situation, we feel the Government should move from mere words to action on the matter to salvage the company from total collapse and also address the plight of our members. We feel that the company, as a public institution, deserves the same treatment as Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) and Zambia Railway Limited (ZRL) have received. It requires a bail-out package in line with what was given to NCZ and ZRL. We realize that even if it is a limited company Times needs subvention from the sole shareholder - the government." (Source: Mwebantu)
We should sell all state newspapers and ensure no more money is wasted on producing propaganda that no one is interested in. Muyanwa makes a very poor statement here. Unfortunately I am not very surprised. I have similarly struggled with his "economic articles" in the state media, which are always biased - and appear to be more "employment seeking" than objective assessment. Surely even a baby knows that the state media is hardly comparable to ZRL or NCZ. The best thing GRZ can do is to auction the company and cut losses for tax payers.
Politicians always baffle me. Things they should do, that everyone wants they don't do. Things they shouldn't do that no one wants, that is what they rush into! All the money GRZ is borrowing with Eurobonds is one way or another helping fund the state media because it all comes from the same national finance pot!
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