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| Paul Shalala poses with Angolan and Mozambican journalists |
Mr Shalala was
invited, together with veteran Angolan journalist Mario Paiva, to address the
International Conference on Communication and the Extractive Industry which had
over 50 participants.
The two day
conference was held from 28 to 29th November, 2014 in the Mozambican
resort town of Bilene on the shores of the Indian Ocean.
The two
visiting journalists shared their experiences in covering the extractive
industries in their respective countries.
Sekelekani
Communication for Development Executive Director Tomas Vieira Mario, who was
the main organiser of the conference, said he invited Mr Shalala to speak at
the conference because of his story on the impact of muti-national mining on
local farmers in Zambia which won him the second prize of the 2014 Africa Fact
Checking Media Awards.
Mr Mario, said
he was impressed when he saw Mr Shalala receiving his award in Nairobi and
coincidentally his international conference’s main objective was also on the
mining industry which prompted him to invite the ZNBC reporter to his country
to share his experiences on how he went about the story.
Below is the
speech Mr Shalala delivered in his close to 30 minutes address on 29 November to
a fully packed conference room which consisted of journalists from across Mozambique
as well as local and international civil society organizations:
Muito obrigado
Bom dia.
I come from a
country where more than 80% of our foreign exchange earnings is from mineral
related transactions. Zambia is a mining country which is endowed with such
minerals like copper, diamond, gold, gemstones and some yet to be exploited oil
sittings in the western part of the country.
Just like my
Angolan colleague Mario Paiva and my Mozambican colleague have lamented, the
benefits of the extractive industries in our countries are yet to reach the
common man on the ground.
To try and
boost transparency in the mining industry, Zambia has joined the Extractive
Industry Transparency Index (EITI) and annually, government releases figures of
how much mines pay government in taxes.
Despite this,
the public is still not aware of the contents of mining agreements which
government enters with foreign investors in the mining sector.
WHY WE NEED INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN COVERING THE EXTRACTIVE
INDUSTRY
Normal
journalism practice is not enough to highlight the progress, problems and
happenings in the extractive industry.
We need
investigative journalists to go deeper and expose the wrongs that players in
this sector commit.
There are
issues of environmental nature such oil spillages, corporate social
responsibility and transparency which investigative reporters need to bring out
in their in-depth stories.
Investigative journalism
is also needed in this sector because it gives context to stories as reporters
spend more time and resources to prepare stories that are way above the common
copy and paste kind of journalism.
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY
The role of the
media in the extractive sector is to show the actual picture on the ground and
raise awareness of the important issues prevailing in the areas where
investments are being done.
The media is
supposed to keep track of all the investments projects and the promises mining
firms make to the indigenous people.
This is
important as the public would want to know how far a specific project has gone
and whether mining firms adhere to the promises they make to people they
displace before investing in their areas.
Another role of
the media in the extractive industry is to put the authorities and the
investors to task over their actions in the sector.
If there are violation
of human rights in the sectors, it is the role of the media to highlight such
issues so that there is respect of the law in society.
CHALLENGES THE MEDIA FACES IN COVERING THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY
Like I have
heard from the Angolan and Mozambican experiences, the Zambian media too faces
the challenge of lacking specialized reporters to cover the extractive
industry.
In Zambia, we
also lack specialized journalism schools that train reporters to report
specifically on the mining sector. Most reporters who report on this sector are
usually journalists who have taken trainings in business reporting which is
broad in nature.
Many good
stories in the extractive industry need time and resources to be well
investigated and produced. This calls for news organizations to give reporters
enough time to do their stories and enough money to fund their logistics.
However, many
editors do not consent to long term stories that would be gathered over a long
period of time. They prefer short stories that can be published almost
immediately.
Editors too
would not commit money to a single story that would take long to be aired or
published. This is because editors look at their short deadlines and want to
ensure their bulletins or newspapers are full of copy everyday.
With the lack
of Freedom of Information Law in Zambia, investigative reporters have the
challenge of reporting on some aspects of the extractive industry due to the
limitations of how far they can go in accessing some vital information.
For example,
reporters can not put to task the Ministry of Finance the total money paid by a
specific mining firm in a given district to government in taxes and how much of
that money goes back to that town to improve the lives of the people who live
side-by-side with the investor.
Am happy to
hear that the Mozambican Parliament has passed the Freedom of Information Bill
this week and my hope for you our colleagues in the media here in Mozambique is
that this law will help you adequately inform the masses out there.
THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY
Am happy that
this conference has attracted the civil society as these are a good partner to
the media in the extractive industry.
The civil
society is there to ensure that the people in areas where investors have
established their projects are made aware of challenges they may face and their
rights.
Specialized civil
society organizations in the governance, environment and water sector are
critical in ensuring that the extractive industry does not exploit the locals
and that authorities play their games according to the laid down rules.
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| Paul Shalala on a panel of discussants at the conference |
When indigenous
people have no resources to litigate over their rights, it is the duty of the
civil society to jump in and act on their behalf.
In Zambia, some
civil society organizations are in court fighting government after it authorized
an Australian investor to set up a mine in the Lower Zambezi National Park
despite a sharp reaction and protests from stakeholders.
It is such
roles that the civil society is expected to play in the extractive industry to ensure
a win-win situation between the locals and the investors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I wish to
encourage the sponsors of this conference WWF Mozambique and Sekelekani
Communication for Development to brainstorm on the possibility of establishing
annual media awards in the Mozambican extractive sector.
This will
encourage more reporters to venture into this sector and specialize their
reporting.
Secondly,
stakeholders with the financial muscle must periodically sponsor study tours
for reporters to visit mining sites and other places for them to get first hand
account of the happenings in the area and report accurately.
Finally, I suggest
that specialized workshops and trainings must be hosted from time to time to
train a group of reporters to specifically report on the extractive sector.
Muito obrigado
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