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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter

THE Zimbabwean media should adapt to disruptive digital change to remain relevant and play its role of telling the Zimbabwean story while amplifying programmes being implemented by the Second Republic which seeks to transform livelihoods in the country.

Speaking specifically about the country’s largest integrated media house, Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited, which is holding a board induction and strategic review meeting here, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said businesses that adapt to disruptive technologies will survive.

Those that will not embrace the digital technological transformation will collapse, she said.

Minister Mutsvangwa said the future was clearly digital and disruptive transformation was here to stay.

“Zimpapers is very peculiar in that we hold it in trust on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

“We must ensure that the group continues to flourish as a commercial entity at the same time meeting the information needs of our population.

“For us in Government, Zimpapers is one of the symbols of our black majoritarian victories over white racist supremacies. There is no doubt that the challenges that we are facing are substantial. The last two years have seen us having to do business under the Covid-19 pandemic and the current lockdown periods that were imposed to save lives caused lots of distress to business units in the media sector.

“That we are still here today is purely testimony of our resilience. My hope and prayer is that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us and we can now focus on energies on rebuilding and expanding this institution.”

Minister Mutsvangwa said it was important that Zimpapers moved swiftly to digital transformation.

“The real picture is the disruptive nature of digital transformation which has hit right at the core of Zimpapers, the hard copy newspaper,” she said.

“With technological innovation, we are continuously in a state of transformation.

“So, as Zimpapers, its either you adapt to survive or you die and the choice is yours. It is very important that as newspapers we move quickly so that we move to digital times and Zimpapers must be part of this digitalization innovation as a matter of national commitment.”

Minister Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe was grateful to Africans forefathers for making it possible for Zimpapers to be owned by Africans, adding that the transfer of the company’s ownership to black majority in 1980 signified the restoration of the people’s voices which had been suppressed for close to a century.

She said while writing the history of the country was important, digitalising was crucial to cater for all generations, readers and audiences.

Minister Mutsvangwa said the 4th Industrial Revolution will accelerate the pace of innovation to communication technologies and render certain modes of communication obsolete and unviable.

She challenged Zimpapers to grapple with these sharp changes.

Minister Mutsvangwa said majority voices should be captured to celebrate developments being done by the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa.

“As Minister, I support you,” she said. “We want to tell the story as it is, if its not told by us then somebody else will tell it. So, we are happy that we are here to support the national agenda.”

Minister Mutsvangwa challenged the media to be developmental and make the country great in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and also the engagement and re-engagement policy.

She implored Zimpapers to make sure its products communicated Government policy with relevant content and tailor made for different audiences.

Minister Mutsvangwa said Government will not interfere with the group’s editorial policy.

“We need to hear the voices of the people who are being impacted by these programmes, among them youth and women,” she said. “We need to record how their lives are changing. We need to give voice to the majority who are appreciating the work being done by President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic.”

The media should put on news agenda climate change, Covid-19 and infrastructure development issues in their role to educate, entertain and inform, Minister Mutsvangwa said.

She challenged Zimpapers to continue adding value to the national mandate guided by national interest and need to make profit, saying a limping Zimpapers will be of no use going into the 2023 elections.

Minister Mutsvangwa said Zimbabweans will be looking up to Zimpapers to provide them with relevant news.

She said the Covid-19 pandemic had taught lessons on how to strategise and Zimpapers should reimagine how the printed newspaper should look like and distribution, circulation and subscription models to be viable and sustain business.

Minister Mutsvangwa commended Zimpapers for leading the way in saving lives during the Covid-19 era through information dissemination, by making sure Zimbabweans were aware of precautionary measures and protocols.

The strategic meeting was organised to orient new board members and allow the company officials to discuss and chart the future.

In attendance are old and new board members, management, editors and heads of all divisions, which are the Digital and Publishing Division (DAP), the Radio Broadcasting Division (RBD), the Commercial Printing Division (CPD) and Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN).

Zimpapers board chairman Mr Tommy Sithole said this was the first time Zimpapers held such a meeting, as he reiterated the group’s commitment to supporting Government’s national agenda.

‘’It’s not always bad news that make good stories, but also good stories make very good reports,” he said. “We are also reminding ourselves that we are here to support the national agenda, and the national agenda is very clear about what the President has said and intends to do, and what he is doing with his Cabinet.

“We certainly want to assure you, we are doing our best and certainly we are not going to sit, we can do better and we want to do the best we can to support the Government, to support the system, because its never something to be ashamed of to be supporting a Government, to be supporting the party.

‘’It happens everywhere in United States and UK that before elections, newspapers declare which candidate they are going to be supporting. It’s not something that we are inventing, its something that’s there. If we appear sometimes not to be supporting the Government it is because we believe in what we are doing, no-one is going to just stand there and write carelessly and try to do down the Government.

“The fact is that there is not a single editor in our entire system who is going to be sitting there and say I am going to do down the Government.”

Victoria Falls City mayor Councillor Somveli Dlamini said the media had diligently told the Zimbabwean story, adding that there was need for industry, the local authority and media to formulate marketing strategies for Victoria Falls to collectively sell the tourism destination.

He said the Zimpapers meeting added to a number of similar conferences that testify Victoria Falls’ readiness to host conferences in the aftermath of Covid-19 induced lockdowns, and the city stood to benefit from collaboration with the media group.