By Keren Banza

Harugumi Mutasa has been reporting news from Africa for nearly 20 years. She graduated from Rhodes University with a BJourn in 2004 and is now a broadcast journalist for Al Jazeera English, reporting news from Africa.

Her career in Al Jazeera began in 2005 when the news network was gearing up to launch its English-language channel. When it launched in November 2016, Haru was one of the main on-air Africa correspondents, reporting from Darfur, Sudan.

Mutasa says her extensive work in Africa has given her a unique outlook on reporting on the continent. She has had to learn “how to negotiate with rebels, soldiers, child soldiers and key officials in governments”. She has also learnt how to work with people’s diverse personalities and egos, and how to deal with conflict in teams. Mutasa was a finalist for the Royal Television Society’s Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2006/2007.

She has contributed to expanding the conversation about African journalism while foregrounding African narratives in her news reports. For her outstanding dedication to telling stories that do justice to the complexity of Africa, we honoured Harugumi Mutasa with a JMS50 Alumni Award.