HARARE The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) has released a test-run of a comedy drama as part of a campaign to ensure the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) becomes an independent public broadcaster.MISA-Zimbabwe says the play, titled Dzimbabwe, chronicles how ZBC has been reduced to a political public relations department, allowing party sympathisers free rein to broadcast propaganda. National Vice-Chair Njabulo Ncube said? the people of Zimbabwe were the genuine stakeholders of ZBC and should have a say about the direction the broadcaster should take.
The play captures how the four characters, Professors Marashike and Mupererwe and Doctors Chiura and Mahoto give themselves the right to define who is a genuine Zimbabwean. The panel appears on national TV reciting mantras against the then opposition MDC and glorifying Zanu (PF). Dzimbabwe is being piloted in Gweru and Kwekwe, but could soon be taken nationwide.