Mujuru behind Moyo panel troubles, claim

via Mujuru behind Moyo panel troubles, claim 07 July 2014

INFORMATION Minister Jonathan Moyo’s Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) has fallen victim to divisions in Zanu PF with a faction linked to Vice President Joice Mujuru accused of working to kill the initiative.

The 25-member panel, set up in December, has been touring the country soliciting for citizens’ views on how to reconfigure the country’s media industry, drawing $300 in allowances per sitting from a cash pot of US$1.6 million provided by treasury.

The panel is headed by former Daily News editor and opposition MDC-T MP aspirant, Geoffrey Nyarota, an appointment that saw Moyo being accused of subversion by an angry President Robert Mugabe.

A member of the panel, who asked not to be named, told NewZimbabwe.com that their work was surprisingly being undermined by members of the Zanu PF government.

“There are some Zanu PF senior members belonging to the Mujuru camp who were and are working tirelessly to destroy the initiative.

“This happened again last week when we went to Mashonaland East’s Uzumba district where the Provincial Affairs Minister Simbaneuta Mudarikwa read us the riot Act.

“In line with protocol, when we arrived in the area, we paid a courtesy call to his office, announcing our arrival.

“We were surprised to be told by the minister, who was holding a copy of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), in his hand that, as far as he was concerned, IMPI was not provided for in the country’s statutes.

“He told us that the Zimbabwe Media Commission was the one mandated by the country’s laws to carry out the activities we were conducting.

“We were very much surprised to hear that from a government minister. He however, told us to proceed with the meetings but at the risk of being beaten up by villagers who were very angry about the money being ‘wasted’ by the programme.”

Zanu PF is said to be divided between Mujuru’s faction and another backing Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa over President Mugabe’s succession.

Mudarikwa was a close ally of the late General Solomon Mujuru, the vice president’s late husband and former army commander.

Explaining their abortive Uzumba outreach, the IMPI official said: “We proceeded with the meeting at the Uzumba business community hall and after introductions a certain man stood up and ordered us to stop addressing them.

“The man said that they were not interested in listening to the IMPI chairperson Geoffrey Nyarota because he used to write negative stories about the country.

“It was after Nyarota tried to explain our mandate that the man charged towards him and ordered all of us to leave the place. Fearing for our lives, we quickly aborted the meeting and vacated.”

Fiery Zanu PF legislator Joseph Chinotimba complained recently in Parliament about the money spent on the inquiry at a time the government was struggling to pay civil servants and MPs were also not getting their allowances.

Moyo however, defended the inquiry when he appeared before a Parliamentary oversight committee.

“One of the problems we have in this country is that … you bring an important issue, they say ‘oh, we already know everything about it’.

“You would be surprised what the ordinary people there have by way of contribution in terms of policy making and legislative making. We have taken that view and we are happy with that view.”