#lastmoyo

Last Moyo (on Wattpad) http://w.tt/1M6JYcj Here are some about south Africa. Last Moyo have presented them. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa. The country is a multiparty democracy currently governed by a Government of National Unity (GNU) following disputed elections in 2008. The power-sharing government has led to some economic stability but some political uncertainty lingers on and this has resulted in little real growth

Print and Electronic Media (on Wattpad) http://w.tt/1GhzI4Z Last Moyo presents the Print and Electronic Media in Zimbawe. The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), authorised in February 2009 as part of the constitutional amendment that formed the government of national unity, oversees media registration and the authorization of foreign media players. The commission carries out this mandate in consultation with sector stakeholders to restore freedom of the press in Zimbabwe

When someone says “you have changed”. That means you have stopped living your life  living their way- Last Moyo

Since 1997 when government commissioned Global One to erect a national and international Internet backbone, the number of dial-up subscribers has always been increasing. According to the Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers (ZISPA), Zimbabwe has more than 35 000 dial-up subscribers who are subscribed with various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country. This is about 3% of Africa’s dial-up subscribers. However, it must be remembered that a lot of people use company accounts and Internet cafes and Internet use in Zimbabwe must be obviously higher than that. Although 35 000 is a very small number compared to the 2.5million Internet users in South Africa, the Internet is gradually rising to be the medium of hope for many Zimbabweans. The hope can be seen in the number of Internet cafes sprouting all over the place, especially in major cities of Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. It is a medium of hope because so far it has not faced as much censorship as the mainstream media do. In view of mounting public criticism and discontent, government passed the Public Order and Security Act in 2002. The law makes it an offence punishable by at least 5 years imprisonment or Z$100 000 for anyone who communicates or publishes anything that is deemed prejudicial to the state interests. The definition of state interests is too wide and all- catching thus leaving the media without any room to maneuver in the discharge of their duties. 17 Internet Service Providers have also mushroomed to boost Internet availability and accessibility to the public, government institutions and the corporate world. Currently the total number of ISPs in the country is more than five. The major ones are Data Control, Africa Online, M-Web Zimbabwe, Samara and Inter Data while the small and upcoming ones comprise Telco, Zimsurf and Icon Internet. Zimbabwe's eight major papers are all now published on the Internet and news is delivered timeously mainly to a very small but extremely influential urban audience. Consequently, the Internet has removed the constraints of time and space in the distribution of news in Zimbabwe. The state-controlled media's agenda setting efforts do not go unchecked because of the Internet’s augmentation of the free flow of information in major cities. The Internet has also grown to epitomize a platform where people of various walks of life in Zimbabwe have found expression, from the gays and lesbian associations, political parties, to human rights activists. In fact, government, civil society and the opposition in Zimbabwe have taken full advantage of the Internet as a tool for advocacy and lobbying. There are however, still some serious obstacles that the Internet faces. First, its biggest obstacle seems to be the growing poverty. The average price for a computer in Zimbabwe is about Z$250 000 and Internet installation costs are also prohibitive. Poverty forces people not to prioritize their informational needs. Emphasis is given to their daily material needs. In 2002 charges for a service at the Internet cafes ranged from Z$150 per 15 minutes to Z$350 per hour. These costs are too high for many Zimbabweans. This has culminated in an information class structure where the majority of the people are info-poor while only a few are info-rich. This has invariably made the Internet just another elitist public sphere in Zimbabwe. The poor telephone national grid is another impediment to Internet accessibility, availability and affordability. The national grid is far below giving a complete and national coverage as it consists of only about 212 000 lines. There are about more than a 100 000 outstanding requests for connection in the country. The government- owned Tel One is failing to meet fixed line telephone demands but remains the sole provider of the landline service.

The majority of the rural poor in Jozini are women. They suffer double oppression – from economic and socio-cultural perspectives. In the context of a patriarchal (both, traditional or modern capitalist system) women’s voices are usually suppressed. As such, the focus on agriculture and rural livelihoods (a women dominated sector) in Jozini also brings to the fore the issues of gender mainstreaming and the capacity of women to communicate in a gendered terrain. With a female-headed household average of 50.6, the district is lower than the national ISRDP average of 54.9 but higher than the KZN provincial overage of 45.5. This is high enough to be an important factor regarding vulnerability and thus in need of specific poverty alleviation interventions. It is already common knowledge that in the subsistence sector, women constitute the majority of the producers. Notwithstanding, the formal marketing channels are mostly male dominated. and although many men in rural areas face similar challenges to women, we focus more on women because of the special circumstances in which women are exploited as producers and reproducers.It is not coincidental that the majority of the interviews and discussions upon which this report is based were with women. The development of the agriculture sector’s capacity to produce food and extra income for the participants is therefore with no doubt at the heart of the improvement of the rural material conditions of women.

South Africa is generally regarded as one of the biggest and strongest economies in the African continent. However, inequalities that cut across the race, gender, class and geographic location remain very much a part of the fabric of the society. Many people in urban areas still lack basic needs, such as shelter and clean water and rural poverty still remains largely unattended. This action research focuses on agriculture and rural livelihoods in Jozini municipal area and seeks to establish the extent to which communication and public participation are integrated in development. Human development requires a minimum level of community participation in planning stages, decisions about the nature of development, as well as how to prioritise projects and shape the policy regime, so that communities develop not simply as consumers of policies but also with sustainable development outcomes in mind. Participants in various research groups in Jozini reiterated the importance of communication in the development process. The definitions of poverty and development they offered indicate that they consider their lack of capacity to articulate their own situation and be understood by officials and those with power over resources, who are mostly outsiders. They are frustrated by the lack of access to communication about resources and the roles and duties of office bearers. The perception that officials in positions of power and authority spend most of their time pursuing personal comfort at the expense of service delivery often results from the lack of information about resources and duties. Some community members say that although development projects are implemented, often this is done without consultation of the community and this they find unacceptable. One of the fundamental characteristics of poverty is the fact that it marginalises communities leaving them vulnerable and lacking the capacity to hold officials accountable.