Give all parties equal public media access

Source: Give all parties equal public media access – DailyNews Live

Maxwell Sibanda      23 March 2018

HARARE – Information minister Simon Khaya Moyo was on Wednesday dodgy when
asked what government policy is regarding coverage of independent or
opposition political parties by the public media during this election
campaign season.

The minister, who was repeatedly asked the same question by different
legislators as he tried to evade it, could not give a satisfactory answer,
instead opting to tell the august House that the issue can only be
resolved when President Emmerson Mnangagwa meets opposition political
parties.

Khaya Moyo told the concerned legislators: ” . . . I want to remind all of
us that it has recently been announced that . . . the president will be
meeting all leaders of political parties.

“This is where we want to thrash out the issue that the . . . Member has
raised. What I can assure you is that there will be openness and people
will have access to the media in all forms.

“Certainly, we must all agree that freedom also goes with responsibility
and therefore I believe that when the time comes, whoever takes to the
airs will also be cognisant of the fact that he or she has got a
responsibility because there is no freedom which is just free and
therefore entertaining any form of irresponsibility…”

From the response, you could see that the minister was running away from
the question because the coverage of other political parties on ZBC and
other public media outlets does not need Mnangagwa to first have a meeting
with the opposition.

The operating parameters for the public media when it comes to covering
other political parties is well spelt out in the national Constitution and
nowhere does it point to the fact that the president is the one who gives
the go ahead for public media to commence opposition coverage.

The public media should already be covering other political actors like it
is doing to Zanu PF officials and rightly so as one legislator pointed out
in a follow-up to the debate.

“Whenever we view television, we see the same thing like what happened
during the time of Dr Amai Mugabe, the same is now prevailing.”

I wouldn’t agree more with the legislator for indeed the ZBC; especially
television, is giving acres of space to Mnangagwa and his wife like it
used to do with former president Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace. And it
is sad, especially coming as it is during “the new dispensation” when we
are supposed to be doing things right!

And the legislators had another bone of contention; licensing of genuinely
independent radio and television stations.

Another concerned legislator said: ” . . . I just want to check with the
minister what government policy on the issuance of a radio licence is. A
few weeks ago, ZBC opened a new radio station in Bulawayo and I am sure it
is not lost to us in the opposition that this is yet another Zanu PF
mouth-piece . . . ”

The public media capture by the ruling Zanu PF over the years has eroded
all the trust that Zimbabweans have in ZBC to the extent of others
actually thinking that the former liberation party owns the entities.

It is sad that even after Mugabe’s departure, Zanu PF officials –
including Mnangagwa and the First Lady – continue to dominate television
programming.

And Zimbabweans are right to think that actually ZBC is a Zanu PF entity.

Khaya Moyo, however, denies his party owns a radio or television station.
” . . . as far as I know, there is no party which owns a radio or
television station.

“If there is, I would want to see that evidence because I do not think
they are allowed, if at all it is used as a national instrument to favour
one side. I would want to see if there is any proof to that effect . . . ”