and a constitution were presented and subjected to scrutiny and further input during more than 40 meetings held throughout the country to ensure ownership of the two documents by stakeholders. The Harare government has, however, been non-committal about amending or revisiting AIPPA whenever the issue is brought up at the Africa Commission for Human and People’s Rights’ (ACHPR) sessions in Banjul, The Gambia. Only as recently as November 2006 Margaret Chiduku, Director of Policy and Legal Research in the Ministry of Justice, advised the commission that government had consented to a self-regulatory mechanism for media practitioners in Zimbabwe and that the launch of the MCZ would go a long way to addressing concerns around the repressive media environment epitomised by AIPPA and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). The government supported the process up until the MCZ was about to be launched and Leo Mugabe and the Acting Minister of Information declined to attend the ceremonies. This is indicative of serious policy inconsistency and hypocrisy on the part of the government vis-à-vis its commitments to the ACHPR. More than anything else, the project has proven that Zimbabwean journalists are more than prepared to reclaim the credibility and integrity of the profession through a publicly acknowledged and accountable mechanism. This was evidenced by the favourable coverage of the project by the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) in the run-up to the convention. MISA continues to support journalists’ unions and press clubs in the region. MISA Lesotho is negotiating with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the funding of the country’s press clubs. MISA Malawi ensured that the Journalists’ Union of Malawi (JUMA) held its national consultative workshop where an interim committee was elected. JUMA’s constitution has been drafted through a consultative process and is awaiting adoption by a general assembly. MISA Zimbabwe also continued to support the various press clubs in that country Southern Africa Media Development Consultative Forum A major activity that MISA held during the year that was not in the workplan was the Southern Africa Media Development Consultative Forum. This conference was a follow-up to the Global Media Development Conference where delegates from southern Africa decided that there was a need for wider consultation on media development issues within the region. The forum was held in conjunction with United Nations Economic Forum for Africa (UNECA), which has been conducting similar consultative forums all over Africa to devise a strategy on how to strengthen the continent’s media to submit to the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). As a result of this process, MISA is on the steering committee of the Strengthening Africa’s Media Initiative, which seeks to establish a continental media development fund. Media Awards As a way of recognising excellence in journalism in the region, MISA continued to award those who had excelled in the field. The 2006 MISA Press Freedom award was presented to veteran Malawian journalist and long-time freedom of expression activist Al Osman of Capital Radio. MISA recognised Osman for his pioneering spirit, as he was involved in the crafting of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration. Osman is the current publicity secretary of the Malawi Annual Report 2007 41