Media Boards Lawful -Shamu

Shamu, who has clashed with Tsvangirai before over his handling of the media, said the only board he had no authority to appoint was the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) that is expected to spearhead the opening up of airwaves by licencing new broadcasters to rival the government’s Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), presently the country’s sole radio and television broadcaster.
“It is us (Ministry of Information) who administer the Acts for (the media companies). We are doing everything in our power to follow the due process. As the minister I am following the laws governing the parastatals,” said Shamu, who last week announced new boards for companies that run the government’s vast newspaper and broadcasting empire.
Shamu stacked the new boards with former military men and allies of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, raising fears they would work to undermine media reforms proposed under a power-sharing agreement signed by the Zimbabwean leader and Tsvangirai that gave birth to the country’s unity government.
Tsvangirai told journalists in Harare on Tuesday that the appointments announced by Shamu, especially the BAZ, were irregular and must be revised. “That issue is being revisited and appointments of board members of BAZ is the business of the President and the Prime Minister,” said Tsvangirai, who is locked up in another dispute with Mugabe over appointments after the latter unilaterally named two of his top allies to head the central bank and the Attorney General (AG)’s office.
Mugabe – who insiders say gave Shamu permission to announce the controversial media boards – has adamantly refused to reverse the appointments of Gideon Gono as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor and Johannes Tomana as AG.
Shamu insisted yesterday that as Information Minister he had the right to appoint boards to parastatals falling under his portfolio, signalling what could be the beginning of a new feud within Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government over appointments to senior and strategic public posts.
The Information Minister said: “These (media companies) are parastatals and their boards are appointed by the minister in terms of the law just like the boards of other parastatals like the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and others.”
Shamu conceded he was wrong to appoint a new BAZ. But he was quick to point out that the law requires him to recommend to Mugabe names of people for appointment to the broadcasting authority, adding he was not required to consult anyone else other than the President – apparently implying his department was under no obligation to consult Tsvangirai.
The BAZ Act requires Shamu to submit nine names to Mugabe for appointment to the authority. The President will also receive six names from Parliament’s standing rules and orders committee from among which he will choose three that will together with Shamu’s nominees constitute a 12-member BAZ.
“We have to make sure we send the names to the President and the President will make the appointments in consultation with the minister and the (parliamentary) committee. We are in the process of regularising that,” Shamu said. He added: “I do not see anywhere in the Act where I am supposed to consult any other authority.”
Media and political analysts have said ZANU PF loyalists appointed to the new boards announced by Shamu could seriously undermine all effort to turn government-owned media into a truly public media.
There are also fears that Shamu could recommend to Mugabe appointment of former chairperson of the government’s defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC), Tafataona Mahoso, as head of the BAZ. The minister had named Mahoso as chairman of the BAZ that he had erroneously appointed last week.
Media groups and pro-democracy activists say Mahoso is the wrong man for the BAZ job after his role at the old MIC where he became known as the “media hangman” after ordering the closure of four independent newspapers, including the Daily News, that were critical of Mugabe and ZANU PF.
There are also fears that Shamu will use the government’s majority stake in Zimpapers to stake the newspaper company with former army officers and ZANU PF allies. Zimpapers is majority owned by the government and the company owns the country’s biggest newspaper empire.
Shamu had attempted to appoint a new board to Zimpapers but withdrew it after being advised he had no powers to do so because the government, like all other shareholders, can only recommend names for appointment to the board at the company’s annual general meeting next March.
Zimbabwe’s unity government supposed to implement a raft of media and political reforms to open up democratic space and re-shape the country’s politics before holding new elections by end of 2010 or early 2011.
But the unity government that has achieved commendable progress on economic reforms has struggled on the political and media front where reforms have moved at a snail’s pace, amid quarreling by coalition partners over the extent and form of reform.