Moyo dismisses Sunday Mail dreams short-listing process to go ahead

Moyo said Parliament would next month announce dates when it would interview
candidates, rejecting weekend reports by the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper
that the nomination process had been suspended to give political parties time to come up with a mutually acceptable formula to select people to sit on the commissions.
“It is their own imagination and dreams,” Moyo said of the reports by the newspaper, which although owned by the government is tightly controlled by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and often reflects the views of the hardliner wing of the party.
“The next stage for us is that within two weeks we will be able to tell you when the next interviews are due. Around September 1st we will have the date. We are presently short-listing the candidates,” said Moyo, who is also chairman of the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
The newspaper, quoting parliamentary clerk Austin Zvoma, said nomination of candidates had been suspended and that appointments would now be done on proportional representation.
The four commissions provided for under Constitutional Amendment Number 19 that established the countrys inclusive government are the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), the Independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (IZEC), the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
Selection of candidates by a special parliamentary committee to sit on two new commissions that will oversee the countrys media, has been mired in controversy after President Robert Mugabes Zanu (PF) party protested against the selection process when several of its allies failed to make it to the final list of nominees.
Parliaments standing rules and orders committee (SROC) two weeks ago publicly interviewed 27 candidates from which 18 names were to be selected and forwarded to Mugabe.
Mugabe would have selected from the submitted names nine individuals to constitute the ZMC and three people to make up the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).
But Zanu (PF) alleged that the interviews were biased against candidates perceived to be sympathisers of the party.
Suspension of nomination of candidates would delay political reforms that Western nations have insisted they want to see first before they can provide direct financial support to the Harare government.
The setting up of the commissions was intended to be the starting point in the long journey towards democratisation of state institutions that have been under the control of Mugabe and Zanu (PF).
ZMC will replace the old Media and Information Commissions which during its tenure shut down four independent newspapers and imposed stringent conditions for registration of journalists.
The IZEC is set to replace the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), accused of massive electoral fraud in 2008, which saw the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai robbed of their rightful election victory.
The ZACC is expected to deal with worsening corruption in the country while the ZHRC is expected to start work in reviewing the human rights situation in the country.