Zimpapers Logo

Nobleman Runyanga-Correspondent

The dawn of the New Dispensation led by President Mnangagwa has brought in its wake a refreshing waft of fresh air in many areas of Zimbabwean life. 

One area which has seen many positive changes in the country over the past few years is the media sector. 

Many will remember how contested the local media industry was prior to the New Dispensation. 

Who would forget how a Minister of Information at the turn of the century behaved as if his sole mandate was to fight the media and not to facilitate its operations and role of informing the citizens of the country? 

The result of his efforts was the polarisation of the Zimbabwean society. When the Minister assumed the same portfolio a decade later, he tried to be a transformed person and a friendly Government official. When he toured various media houses, stakeholders co-operated out of duty as they still distrusted him. 

Enter the New Dispensation

When President Mnangagwa was sworn in on August 26, 2018 following his electoral win that year, he announced his Cabinet on September 7, 2018 at State House. 

Among the new Cabinet Ministers was Monica Mutsvangwa, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, who has blazed a trail in championing media reform in the country. 

Her appointment was, in part, a fulfilment of the President’s wish to have more women in key Government positions. The President’s detractors, as usual, criticised the policy as merely filing positions with women who did not deserve their portfolios.

Minister Mutsvangwa has, however, proved her critics wrong in the way she has acquitted herself so far. 

The Minister and her team broke new ground by introducing the post-Cabinet media briefings in which she addresses the media and other stakeholders on Tuesdays after the Cabinet’s weekly meetings.

In the past, journalists had to approach different Ministers or their Permanent Secretaries to obtain information on various issues relating to Government business. The briefings have made journalists’ work on Government stories a lot easier. 

The post-Cabinet briefs have proved to many that Government is committed to providing information on various matters to enable the media to disseminate it to members of the public. 

Many people have come to appreciate the role played by the briefings in critical times such as national disasters like Cyclone Idai which affected some parts of Manicaland Province in March 2019 or the Covid-19 pandemic which ravaged the country and the world especially in 2020 and 2021. 

While relevant Ministries such as that of Health and Child Care led from the front in disseminating information on the pandemic, the Ministry of Information provided the information on various national efforts from a whole Government point of view. 

Opening up the airwaves

One of the major gripes which some media stakeholders had about the Zimbabwean media landscape was the fact that, despite Zimbabwe being among the first African countries to introduce television broadcasting, it still had one television station over 40 years into Independence. 

Nigeria was the first African country to introduce a television service in Africa in October 1959 and currently has over 90 television stations. Television broadcasting was introduced to Zimbabwe in November 1960, while in South Africa it was introduced 16 years later. 

Over the years Government has been criticised for presiding over one television and four radio stations for many decades into Independence. Parallels have been drawn between Nigerian and South African broadcasting scenarios on one hand, and the Zimbabwean one on the other. 

The fact that South Africa has more television stations than Zimbabwe despite the latter being among the African pioneer countries in television broadcasting has been claimed as proof that Government allegedly uses the media as a weapon to control the people using information. 

The national broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), had become an object of ridicule because of its monopoly, which some critics said reduced it to a Government propaganda institution. 

This was until 2012 when Government licensed some commercial radio stations such as Zimbabwe Newspapers’ Star FM and AB Communications’ ZiFM, which brought to an end the ZBC’s radio broadcasting monopoly. 

When Minister Mutsvangwa and her team got into office their work was cut out for them and so far they have proved that they are up to the task.

In November 2020, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) licenced six national free-to-air commercial television stations namely ZTN, 3KTV, KeyonaTV, NRTV, KumbaTV and ChannelD. The first three are already operational while the fourth is set to launch soon. 

The first of the television stations, 3KTV went live on air in February last year while ZTN Prime followed in May. Both use MultiChoice Digital Satellite Television (DStv) platform. 

The ZBC, owing to limited resources, could not absorb all the television content created in the country, which forced many creatives to rely on the internet-based video platform, YouTube to showcase their works. 

The coming in of other television stations has provided more platforms for creatives to showcase their work and earn some money from their sweat. 

A Kwekwe-based content company, MagTom Media, is a fine example of this. Its popular soap “Complicated Affairs” which many people accessed through the YouTube platform only is now being screened on 3KTV. This means that Magtom Media now earns revenue from advertisements placed by some companies, YouTube as well as from 3KTV.

The coming in of more television stations means more platforms for content creators and a boost for the creative industry. It means more internship and job opportunities for media, theatre and film students from various tertiary institutions such as the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa (ZIFTESSA). More television stations mean more business for local production companies like MagTom Media and Biza ni Media. 

 Government was also criticised for years for not opening up the airwaves for community radio stations. The New Dispensation appreciates the key role played by community radio stations in the dissemination of information to the grassroots population. Community radio stations are very important in sharing developmental information and information relating to disasters and disease outbreaks among other key aspects of life. This is why as of October 2021, BAZ had licenced 14 community radio stations. 

These include Chimanimani FM, Nyangani Community Radio Station, Radio Bukalanga (Bulilima), Matobo Community Radio Trust (Maphisa, Mangwe Brunapeg), Twasumbuka Community Radio Trust (Binga, Kamativi Siabuwa), Mbembesi Development Trust, trading as, Ingqanga FM, Ntepe-Manama Community Radio Trust, Shashe Community Radio Broadcasting Association which covers Beitbridge and Shashe and Lyeja-Nyayi Development Trust that covers Hwange and Victoria Falls. 

In line with President Mnangagwa’s mantra of leaving no one or no place behind, tertiary students have also been covered. BAZ has licenced campus radio stations for institutions such as the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Great Zimbabwe University and the Harare Polytechnic College. 

Creating an enabling media legal framework

Under the First Republic, media stakeholders complained against some legislation such as the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which they deemed too draconian. Their main contention was its requirement for journalists to be accredited by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC). 

On assuming office in 2018, President Mnangagwa’s listening Government moved quickly to set in motion the process of repealing the reviled law. AIPPA was repealed on July 1, 2020 when the Freedom to Information Act (FIA) replaced the Access to Information aspect of AIPPA. 

Full article on www.herald.co.zw

The new piece of legislation provided media practitioners and members of the public with the right to access information held by individuals, private organisations and public bodies in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

It laid out the processes which information seekers should follow in requesting for information. The law also directs how information custodians should deal with requests for information. The law was complemented by the Data Protection Act which was signed into law on 3 December 2021 which among other things regulates the use and abuse of private data on individuals and the social media. 

The promulgation of FIA and the repeal of AIIPA did away with legislation to govern the way journalists go about their work. For most of last year, Minister Mutsvangwa and her team were seized with engaging the media fraternity so that they would agree on the content of the Media Practitioners Bill which among other things will address important issues such as journalists’ accreditation and the regulation of the media industry. 

The media industry has always been in favour of self-regulation while Government favours State regulation. A series of workshops culminated in a middle-of-the-road position called co-regulation although a series of politically-charged fake news stories by private media players like the NewsDay supports the case for State regulation. This is expected to be overseen by the ZMC and a representative body of media practitioners.

An amended Zimbabwe Media Commission Act will also provide for the accreditation of journalists. While the scribes themselves feel that accreditation is unnecessary, the behaviour of some wayward journalists like those at the NewsDay and the NewsHawks who behave more like opposition political activists than professional journalists, necessitates the requirement. The proposed law is set to provide a legal framework for professional journalism in Zimbabwe. In December last year, Cabinet agreed to the principle of the proposed law. 

More work ahead

The operationalisation of the community radio stations opened Government’s eyes to the challenges bedevilling the new sector such as office and studio accommodation, budgets to run the stations and the need for training of the people manning the stations. While commercial radio station rely on advertising revenue for survival, community radio stations operate mostly in rural areas whose economy cannot support the stations. This makes the operation of community difficult and Government is working on resolving the problems.

The going on air of half the six licensed commercial television spells good news, it is sad that all of them are using foreign platforms such as South Africa’s DStv or Tanzania’s Azam TV. This means that Government needs to redouble its efforts to ensure that every Zimbabwean who has a television set accesses all Zimbabwean television stations affordably. 

President Mnangagwa’s Government has demonstrated that it is not sparing neither resource nor effort in ensuring a turnaround of the country’s economic fortunes and other areas of the Zimbabwean life. In view of this, it is only proper and sensible that all progressive Zimbabweans vote President Mnangagwa and his team back into office this year so that they can carry on doing the good work they started.