A passionate human rights activist, Nhlanhla Ngwenya said his work with the organisation allowed him to be a defender of the freedom of expression, something that is important to him as a Communications and Media specialist.
“Some people say that Zimbabwe is beyond repair, but the fact that we still have voices holding the line is testament to the success that funders like Open Society, in particular OSISA, have had in the region. We can only hope to build on what we achieved in the last 25 years.”
Having been fortunate enough to have been able to pursue an academic career that gave him the intellectual back up for what he strongly believed in, communication and media specialist Nhlanhla Ngwenya is proud of the work he accomplished with OSISA.
A passionate human rights activist, he said his work with the organisation allowed him to help defend freedom of expression, something that is important to him as a Communications and Media specialist.
At the organisation he managed OSISA’s Media, Access to Information and Digital rights programme which, among other things, saw him fight for citizens on the African continent to have access to information.
He said while his six years at OSISA have come and gone, his work with the Open Society Foundation is similar and continues allowing him to live out his passion for human rights advocacy.
“The work I do now, while it’s grounded in what we did at OSISA, is slightly different. Now I am managing the participation and expression portfolio at Open Society Africa, which in my view is a merger of the two portfolios I had at OSISA, which were Information Democracy and Democracy and Governance.”
He said the work allowed them to support organisations working to defend civic spaces and push against information repression and information authoritarianism.
“Our view was that believers of change could be found in civil society and communities and by giving them assistance and building their urgency you would be able to assist in the drive for change. That was our theory.”
He said his passion for advocacy was rooted in his upbringing and his home country, Zimbabwe.
“I was born in a minority group, in western Zimbabwe, that has never known freedom in the full sense of the word. I also witnessed repression as a young kid. We were made to believe that old people don’t cry, but seeing them brutalised showed me that evil exists in the world, and if none of us do anything about it, it will persist.
“Growing up in such situations makes you passionate about ensuring that democracy thrives and that people have a choice. That created that basic foundation for me.”
Ngwenya said he was particularly impressed by how OSISA responded to changes in media and access to information.
“The ability to be proactive and to analyse the terrain, that made OSISA a cut above a number of colleagues. For instance, there was a time, between 2017 and 2020, where there was general fatigue in supporting the media. It is a complex field to invest in, but we refused to follow the hedge mentality and we remained a leading supporter of the media in the region.”
He said while he understood that media was tricky to invest in, as returns could only be seen after many years, he was glad OSISA remained resolute and stuck to its beliefs.
He was particularly better at recognising the great work done by the organisation as he was a beneficiary before being on the other side.
“As a beneficiary, I worked in media advocacy groups in the region, so we would apply for grants and we did work around media freedom. We walked together with OSISA. That is why I can safely pull out their success stories having straddled the two, having been beneficiary and grant maker.”
He adds that it would be remiss, when looking back at OSISA, not to speak about the kind of support the organisation gave to the field – support that has led to remarkable gains in meeting the goals of the Open Society Foundation.
“I will start with support given to alternative policy formulations. We have given support to civil society to not only engage in advocacy for the sake of it, but to also come up with policy propositions. When we look at access to information model law, you cannot talk about that law without highlighting what OSISA did. The dialogues and campaigning, OSISA supported that, together with sister foundations. It was remarkable work.
“The work we supported in trying to protect human rights defenders, I also find that quite remarkable. There is the southern African Human Rights Defenders Network which, in my view, is what it is because of the support they received from OSISA. The organisation supported the initial meeting that resulted in this network being in existence.”
He said advocacy will remain important across the African continent.
“Some people say that Zimbabwe is beyond repair, but the fact that we still have voices holding the line is testament to the success that funders like Open Society, in particular OSISA, have had in the region. We can only hope to build on what we achieved in the last 25 years.”
