The winner of the first edition of the South and Eastern Africa IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize was announced on June 23, 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Anna-Maria Lombard of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s investigative documentary and current affairs programme Special Assignment was awarded the prize for “The healing land” broadcast 16 July 2002.
The documentary follows the attempts by the people of Rwanda to deal with the release and return to society of more than 100,000 awaiting-trial killers, looters, rapists and arsonists. The Gacaca, described as a bold experiment in justice, an international legal “first” is an indigenous system of justice that seeks to bring perpetrators of the 1994 genocide face to face with their victims to seek forgiveness and redress.
Of the 12 submitted for adjudication, the jury selected two entries submitted for special commendation for efforts to expose xenophobia. The two were “Xenophobia, racial intolerance can hurt African unity”, by Amos Chanda of Zambia Daily Mail Newspapers Limited and “Coloureds –Stuck in the middle of nowhere”, by Foster Vulindlela Dongozi of ANZ, The Daily Mail, Zimbabwe.
The IFJ Journalism for Tolerance carries 1000 Euro prize-money in three categories Television, Radio and Print/on-line. The jury elected to award one overall prize.
For further information please contact:
Tuwani Gumani
Coordinator: MFDSA
5th Floor Argon House,
87 Juta Street, Braamfontein , Johannesburg,
South Africa
Tel: +27-11-403-0642
E-mail: [email protected]
With the Support of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights
