Highway Africa conference director Chris Kabwato said on Thursday 27 August that a contingent of 450 delegates from across Africa and overseas would attend the conference.
Highway Africa conference director Chris Kabwato said on Thursday 27 August that a contingent of 450 delegates from across Africa and overseas would attend the conference.
Registration will commence on Saturday 29 August at 2pm in the Eden Grove Seminar Room III, and will continue until late. The two-day conference will start on Sunday 30 and end on Monday 31 August 2015.
He said parallel sessions and workshops would be held in the Africa Media Matrix, the home of the School of Journalism and Media Studies.
Kabwato said the keynote address would be delivered by New York Times journalist Ron Nixon.
"We also have other high-profile people who will make speeches here, like Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau and Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa. The delegates will be coming from over 30 countries that include USA and Netherlands," said Kabwato.
This year's conference theme is Journalism and the City.
Kabwato said the significance of the theme was that they want to ask themselves a number of questions regarding the journalism industry.
"We want to ask ourselves questions relating to how our journalism in our cities represents different voices. Does it ignore people who might have no voice?
"The other thing is that this country soon will be hosting an Afri-Cities Summit and the Highway Africa conference will give us an opportunity to prepare ourselves for that summit. "We also need to know how we begin planning inclusive and integrated cities," said Kabwato.
Kabwato said there would be a mix of academics, politicians, local government professionals and mayors.
He said there would be an exhibition at the Albany Museum on Monday that would "show and explain the contribution of countries like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique towards the liberation of South Africa from the apartheid. Members of the public will be allowed to come and attend the exhibition," said Kabwato.
