BEITBRIDGE - Villagers who have not had access to local television and radio for years said the commissioning of transmitters in their areas by the government was pathetic and served only to further the interests of aging Zanu (PF) leader President Robert Mugabe.
Recently, Information, Media and Publicity minister Webster Shamu visited the border town to commission the transmitters, 31 years after independence. But locals said they would rather listen to foreign stations as local content was pathetic and atrocious.
We celebrated that we were now watching local content, but after a few days we discovered that the programmes were not worth it because it was just Zanu (PF) propaganda. I tuned back in to foreign programmes because they are more informative than the local television, said Rendani Ndou, a local villager.
Others said they would stick to listening to quality programming from South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Botswana TV, which are accessed via free-to-air satellite decoders.
We did not know that our fellow citizens were being fed with such rubbish propaganda. Honestly speaking how we can pay for such pathetic programmes? We will not pay any licenses and they should leave us watching foreign programming because local is trash, Mike Gwede said. He added that ZBC was doing a disservice to the majority of Zimbabweans as a public broadcaster by furthering the interest of one political party in the inclusive government.
A local political analyst, Themba Chauke, said commissioning of transmissions in Plumtree and Beitbridge was just an extension of ZBCs monopoly.
He said there was need for broader reforms such as licensing of private players to allow local viewers and listeners to have a choice, although he commented that this would not be enough action.
Since Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai joined hands with his long time foe President Robert Mugabe to form a fragile coalition government, Zanu (PF) has been manipulating ZBC and public media to attack its opponents in the establishment. Political observers said there is a lack of political will on the Zanu (PF) side to free the airwaves to other players in the industry.
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