Exclusive Interview

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Breaking the male bastion

Once mocked by her colleagues as ‘Iron Lady’, Pili Mtambalike has actually proved to be one as she continues her life journey. From a reporter to a high-ranking official in the Media Council of Tanzania, Pili’s life has taken lots of turns -- fortunately all for the best. Sitting at her office she shared her most special memories in an exclusive interview with The Express.

The Express:
How was your experience working as a journalist?
Pili: It wasn’t as exciting as now. I worked from 1982 to 1992 in the newsroom and media at that time was part of the government administration. The things that can be written now were impossible to write then. Seldom would you find investigative stories on leaders. There was a lot of cliché writing, things like “The Minister said this and The Minister said that”. It was getting boring.

The Express: What happened in 1992?
Pili: I left the newsroom, partly because I thought I was doing the same job everyday. At that time TAMWA (Tanzania Media Women’s Association) needed someone to stay there full time. So I joined them.

The Express: Were you part of TAMWA?
Pili: Yes. I was one of the founding members. That was a new chapter in my life; being an activist and putting forward issues that were actually taboo in our society…(pause) it was great. (Smile).

The Express: Was being a woman journalist also a taboo issue?
Pili: Not really, but you know the kind of teasing that goes on in news room; out of 20 journalists only two were women, so if you write about a man beating his woman your colleagues together with the editor will tell you “This is not news”.
It was tough. You had to prove yourself by working thrice as much as your male colleagues and be accepted as an equal. I remember there was a delegation from somewhere (trying to recall the specifics)…oh yes I remember vividly now it was a delegation from Nigeria. The news editor for morning shift had assigned me to cover that. I was quiet excited and did my background study. But in the evening, the evening news editor told me “You can’t go, you have no experience”. I refused to be pushed around and asked him how will I get the experience if I don’t go. “Or is it because I am a woman?” I was just being pushed around for no reason. (Re-living the anger).

The Express: ...and then?
Pili: I went for it and I covered it very well. (Laughter).

The Express: Was being a woman ever a problem to you?
Pili: Never. I went to good schools, I had a good father who never discriminated between boys and girls. So I guess I was prepared to stand up for myself. I would get proposals and offers like “Can we go for lunch?” and I would say “No way”. I can buy my own lunch. I made it clear to everyone that I am not here because I am a woman; I am here because I am a trained journalist. That’s when you end up with nicknames like “Iron Lady”.

The Express: How was the newsroom situation in general?
Pili: I was very hierarchical, in a positive way. An editor had to be someone with knowledge, experience and maturity. It was someone we could aspire to be. It was a prestigious position. Unlike these days you have people fresh from school being hired as editors. In those days, newsroom was a place of utmost discipline. We had a sub-editor, which most newsrooms don’t have now. Although our scope was limited, the quality was very good.
(Getting nostalgic) At the sub’s desk there was a spike and all lousy stories were spiked.

The Express: Did it happen to you?
Pili: Of course it did. (Laughter) Every time you have you story spiked it was so painful as if the spoke is going in your stomach! But that’s how you learn because then the sub calls you and tells you where to improve. See in a newsroom if you are not willing to learn, you’ll always end up in the courts! (Courtroom reporting is the first assignment given to a beginner).
With a big smile on her face, Pili confessed, there was a time she sat on the sub’s desk and did her share of spiking as well. Currently, she is working as a programme officer at the MTC, where her job requires her to train journalists and offer arbitration. Pili describes her job as telling her colleagues what they are doing is wrong.

The Express: Do your ex-colleagues look at you as an enemy?
Pili: That’s interesting when I call them I am told “every time I get a call from you I get jittery” and I just have to tell them, “Hey I am not a lawyer or a social servant I am part of you”. Our major task is to make our profession a respected one as it was before.

The Express: What do you think went wrong?
Pili: People are not trained, stories are not well researched, and we are not doing justice to our profession. These days you hear editors complaining “Sales have gone down, what kind of stories you are writing?” but that was not our job. And that’s where we end up making mistakes; we tend to write sensational stories instead of good stories.

The Express: There has been a misconception about women journalists; that they have to buy their way up through sexual favours. In your experience how true is this?
Pili: Personally I can’t see any connection here. I went to school, I work, and I get my salary, why do I need to give my body to a man to publish my story? But now that I am here at MTC, I see young girls who are vulnerable being exploited by editors with power who tend to find weakness in them. Most of them are not even trained journalists. My only advice to them is go to school.

The Express: Is there a softer side to Pili Mtambalike?
Pili: I am a wife, a mother of three girls. I am a very social person, I love reading. When I was young, studying at St Joseph there was an ice cream parlour and a bookshop near my school -- I had decided when I become older I will either work in the ice cream parlour or a bookshop. Because I like both ice creams and books. I never missed my weekly issues of comics. I like writing too. So far, I have written three books for children.

The Express: So after MCT, what will you do, have an ice cream parlour or a bookshop?
Pili: (Laughing as she speaks) Never thought of it, but I would love to provide this city with a bookshop. I see a very big space for literature, I don’t know what would it be like if we didn’t have the Shaaban Robert and Penninah Muhando.

The Express: We wish you all the best.