License new broadcasters – Mtetwa

In her keynote address at a World Press Freedom Day breakfast in Harare organized last week by MISA-Zimbabwe, Mtetwa said the existing political environment did not allow for the immediate and short-term transformation of ZBC as is generally being agitated for.

Focus should be on the licensing of new private players to break the monopoly of ZBC.

I doubt that ZBC in its current state and in our current political environment can be transformed. I believe very strongly that the state of any sector in any given country depends entirely on the state of its democracy and governance. The route we ought to be taking is not (to seek the immediate) transformation of ZBC but providing serious competition to ZBC, said the leading human rights lawyer, who has won international awards in defence of media freedom.

Her comments come at a time of increasing pressure to liberate the airwaves and the urgent need for transformation of ZBC from a state to a truly independent broadcaster.

ZBC has over the years been accused of being partisan and biased in support of the former ruling Zanu (PF), which is now part of the inclusive government that also includes the two MDC formations.

MISA-Zimbabwe is commemorating this years event under the theme: Broadcasting Reforms on the Agenda: Free the Airwaves Now!

While the majority of the 14-member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) now boast of a plethora of privately owned broadcasting stations and community radio stations, Zimbabwe remains stagnated as a monolithic pariah state whose airwaves continue to be monopolised by the state controlled ZBC.

This untenable situation has seen pressure mounting for the licensing of private radio/television stations as well as the establishment of community radio stations as envisioned under the African Charter on Broadcasting.