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Michael Magoronga

Zimpapers Chief Executive Officer Mr Pikirayi Deketeke has been elected chairperson of the interim steering committee of the newly-formed Media Owners Association of Zimbabwe (MOAZ).

The body was mooted at a meeting organised by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) in Harare recently.

Mr Deketeke will be deputised by Mr Jasper Maphosa; Ms Maggie Mzumara (secretary) while Mr Kangai Maukazuva and Mrs Susan Makore are committee members.

MOAZ is expected to address challenges faced by publishers in the country.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Deketeke said MOAZ was the first step in the right direction towards addressing the plight of not only publishers, but also media practitioners.

“We are very grateful for the organisers of this meeting for putting us together as publishers. It is high time we own the profes-                                         sion.

“It is high time that we take the profession to a whole new level, as we own the process and bring back the pride to our composition as publishers,” said Mr Deketeke.

He added that the review of the VMCZ indicates that the media industry was going somewhere.

VMCZ director Mr Loughty Dube weighed in saying co-regulation was long overdue.

During the meeting, media practitioners called for the review of the VMCZ, which will result in more journalists being part of it to enable them to control issues that affect them.

VMCZ director Mr Loughty Dube weighed in saying co-regulation was long overdue.

“The issue is something that came out of various media forums now. It is also in the Cabinet principles and in the interministerial committee.

“Government, through the Ministry of Information (Publicity and Broadcasting Services) has also been calling for deregulation. As VMCZ, we therefore firmly believe that deregulation is the most democratic media regulating principle that Zimbabwe can go for at this time,” said Mr Dube.

Veteran journalist Mr Matthew Takaona also said publishers supported the VMCZ and media industry’s call for co-regulation.

‘As publishers we fully support co-regulation and we urged the VMCZ to strengthen its processes and continue to lobby for co-regulation in the ZMC Bill,” he said.

The meeting was called by the VMCZ to reflect on the state of ethics and professionalism and the media law reform process in Zimbabwe.