Highway Africa@10
GRAHAMSTOWN--Kenyan journalists and editors were among the over 500 delegates from 42 countries that attended the 10th anniversary celebrations of Highway Africa, an annual Information and Communication Technology (ICT) conference hosted by South Africa’s Rhodes University. Each year, more than 500 delegates from across the globe attend the conference to discuss issues relating to Internet governance, ICT policy and media for democracy.
The event—the largest gathering of African journalists—is the brainchild of Rhode’s University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies and attracts corporate as well as civil society funding. Besides Rhodes University, other sponsors this year included the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa’s Department of Communication, ABSA Bank, Multichoice, MTN, Siemens, South African Airways, Telcom, Sunday Times, Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NIZA) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) among others.
“Over the last ten years, the Highway Africa Conference has grown in leaps and bounds. It has become the largest gathering of African journalists in the world. It is now the preferred place to meet, share, learn and network where matters pertaining to journalism and the media are concerned”, said Chris Kabwato, director of Highway Africa in his welcome speech. Ms Lyndal Shope-Mafole, Director-General of South Africa’s Department of Communication, observed: “As we discuss post-World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the way forward, it is important that the African media and journalists understand the issues, track events and report to their audiences and the world. My challenge to all gathered at the tenth edition of Highway Africa conference is: ensure that every African has a voice in the Information Society”.
A major attraction at the opening ceremony was a decorated camera box, in which delegates were asked to put newspapers, CDs and even computers. The box was sealed and put on permanent display and will only be opened after ten years. Dali Mpofu, SABC’s CEO and the president of Southern Africa Broadcasting Association (SABA) placed in the box a video camera used by student journalists in the last ten years, while Grahamstown mayor Phumelelo Kate parted with a cell phone.
Besides presentations at the conference, journalists had an opportunity to attend training workshops on ICT reporting and the use of new media technologies. Other meetings included the first Editors’ Council meeting of The African Editors Forum (TAEF), in which 18 editors from Africa met to deliberate on how they could use their profession to positively influence African societies. As their meeting came to a close, the editors issued a communiqué condemning media harassment in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Gambia.
The climax of the conference was the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) awards where South African songbird Yvonne Chaka Chaka entertained delegates, and SABC broadcasting the event live. The awards were introduced in 2003 to encourage more informed coverage of the information society and Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) issues in Africa as part of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA’s) Information Society Outreach and Communication Programme. West African journalists mostly scooped the 2006 awards.
Also worth noting was Africa's first blogging conference, dubbed Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI). In association with Highway Africa, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), NIZA and Sentech the conference-- co-ordinated by Rhodes University’s New Media Lab-- was the first of its kind on the African continent and attracted bloggers, citizen journalists, media practitioners and members of the civil society from all over Africa.
Featuring a diverse range of speakers and media professionals from across the globe, the aim of the conference was to equip Africans with skills relating to new media so as to empower them and the organizations they work for by creating an effective digital voice. A key aim was to allow fellow Africans to network with one another so as to promote collaboration and build a strong online community on the continent.