He was addressing delegates at a belated World Press Freedom Day march organised by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalist (ZUJ) in partnership with the National Planning Commission for the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in Harare today.
Mandiwanzira emphasised the importance of media freedom to ensure development.
He said because the alignment of the laws was a process which required stakeholder involvement, government would seriously consider the input by other partners on how they can best improve the media environment in Zimbabwe.
“Press freedom comes with responsible journalism and that is what we expect from media practitioners. What we want to emphasise is that press freedom should be celebrated on a daily basis and it should not be restricted to May 3,” said Mandiwanzira.
He said, contrary to reports that police banned the planned march three weeks ago, there was a communication breakdown within the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) which resulted in cancellation of the march.
“Police did not ban the march but because there was no car (Police Mercedes Benz) to escort people on the day, police communicated that the march had been cancelled but I believe that they did not intend to do so,” he said.
On April 16, the Officer Commanding Harare, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama, authorised the Press Freedom Day march, that had been organised by the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (Zacras), Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ), ZUJ and Unesco with the support of the information ministry among other stakeholders.
However, the police withdrew the authorisation on the day of the march citing the “cropping up of other events of national interest” where members of the force would be committed to.
Media and Information minister, Jonathan Moyo described the move as “very disappointing as it is manifestly neither in the public nor national interest not least because it is patently unconstitutional and without any transparent, rational or constructive justification.”
Mandiwanzira said the ministry was working towards revamping ZBC as a way of resuscitating it. ZUJ President, Michael Chideme called on government to intervene and ensure improved working conditions for journalists.
“Journalists are harassed and they are arrested using arms of government such as the police. Aligning media laws is very important towards improving their working conditions,” he said.
Chideme said because journalists were poorly paid, there was need for government to establish a National Employment Council for scribes that would negotiate basic salaries and ensure the provision of medical aid and funeral schemes by publishers.
Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum (Zinef) Secretary General, Barnabas Thondhlana, emphasised the importance of training law enforcement agents on the constitutional rights of citizens.
“Conscientise arms of government on the Constitution, especially on people’s rights like the right to march,” he said.
Post published in: News