The Prime Minister was addressing journalists at his residence flanked by Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.
“On the issue of the media we have agreed that AIPPA should be replaced and there are two bills that are supposed to replace it that the Minister of Information and Publicity is to begin working on now.
“We have the Media Practitioners Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill that should help us work around AIPPA,” Tsvangirai said.
He said the Principals had also agreed to regularize the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
“If there is an institution such as the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe that has made decisions and that institution is irregular or illegal we expect the Minister responsible to regularize the institution and reverse whatever decision BAZ has made.
“These decisions have been communicated to the Chief Cabinet Secretary for auctioning by respective Ministers and implementation is key we will be following up on that,” Tsvangirai said.
Mutambara weighed in saying the Principals are very worried by lack of implementation of agreed issues.
“We all know that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and we are watching and will follow up on this.
“The meeting we have had for the past few day was very fruitful I must say and we expect all of us to stick to what has been agreed,” the DPM said.
Then Minister of Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo crafted AIPPA with the aim of squeezing democratic and media space which lead to the closure of a host of newspaper and deportation of numerous journalists.
Only after the consummation of the GPA did some semblance of normalcy return to the media sector but still BAZ has been accused of lip service and awarding radio licenses to ZANU-PF apparatchiks.
Post published in: News