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Wallace Ruzvidzo in Bulawayo

The Government is expediting the country’s digitisation agenda to ensure all 48 transmitters are digitised as soon as possible, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa has said.

Currently, the country has 18 transmitters that have been digitised.

Speaking at the Ministry’s Media Indaba on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) yesterday, Minister Mutsvangwa said the Second Republic was making investments in the country’s technological capabilities.

“Government is seized with the fact that we need to move fast in term of digitalising, out of the 48 transmitters we have only digitalised 18 and we do not want to lose our young generation,” she said.

“The youth of today have changed the way they consume information and we want our youth to be able to access content and digitalisation is the way to go.

“If we continue to leave our files in analogue we lose out on the history of the country because we want our young children to be able to read where we came from and that way we will be able to chart together our way forward, its important.” 

Minister Mutsvangwa implored the media to be at the forefront of fostering social integration and projecting the correct national development agenda.

The media, she said, was responsible for enunciating that Zimbabwe was indeed open for business and ‘a friend to all and enemy to none’.

“A medley of ideas in the national discourse guarantees a multi-dimensional construction of our realities as a people,” said Minister Mutsvangwa. 

“Herein lies the essence of the media’s role in helping us to know and truly love each other as Zimbabweans.

“We owe it to none, but ourselves to know and love each other and this is achievable if creative and journalistic freedoms are allowed to flourish.” 

Minister Mutsvangwa urged content producers to meet the high expectations and demand by consumers, while also urging the media sector to coordinate and have an inclusive ecosystem.

“We have a very demanding audience owing to the near universal digital literacy that now exists,” she said. 

“This high level of literacy allows us to grow quality content that is both patriotic and universal.”

The indaba was attended by Bulawayo’s Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mrs Judith Ncube, Zanu PF national spokesperson Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa, the Ministry’s deputy Minister Mr Kindness Paradza and Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana, among other delegates.