Mduduzi Mathuthu's Southern Times to go regional

SADC countries have expressed interest in joining the Southern Times newspaper, transforming it into a regional partnership. Presently it is a joint venture between Zimbabwe and Namibia. A new board drawn from various Sadc countries will soon be established, amid plans to set up a Sadc radio station and television channel once all the processes have been finalised.

This was revealed during a meeting between Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Chris Mushohwe and Namibian Minister of Information and Communication Technology Mr Tjekero Tweya in Harare yesterday.

Dr Mushohwe said he was happy with the relations between the two countries as Zimbabwe still had a lot to learn from its counterpart. "When we met (with Minister Tweya) in Maseru (Lesotho) we talked about a number of issues, that we must put our heads together to make sure that we improve our newspaper (The Southern Times) that we own . . .

"I am happy that a number of Sadc countries are also interested with the partnership and that we need to look for mechanisms to unlock that arrangement," he said. Some of the issues pertaining to the regional partnership had already been presented to their counterparts while in Maseru during a meeting of Ministers responsible for Public Communication recently.

"We want to promote the agenda of Sadc through this and at the same time ZBC and NBC should also have something in the process," Minister Tweya said. A Sadc radio station and television that covers the region would enable people to share views, information and talent among others.

"There is the issue of migration from analogue to digital which I know Namibia is ahead of us in terms of implementation and we can learn a lot. "So I am happy that you made time to visit our studios here in Harare," he said. "We have a lot that we must co-operate in and I am sure this meeting is only the beginning of substantial meetings that we should undertake to look at these things closely."

He added that there was no difference between Zanu-PF and Namibia's South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) as the two parties have a common history and common background.

"Our brothership was founded in trenches when we were fighting colonialism so we have a definite common objective as to how we should uplift the lives of our people and how we should develop our country and how we should consolidate the hard-earned independence that we have," he said.

In response, Minister Tweya said they had put in place technical teams that would look into the issue of Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries that had not been implemented.

"We have at this point in time existing MoUs that are just gathering dust somewhere. We have agreed to go and pull out those MoUs and we have tasked technical teams to review and update them with new reality.

"We want to give life to them (MoUs) as they are not simply documents signed to satisfy our principals," he said. "One of the new developments is the new development of the NamZim. NamZim will have to undergo new identity were we will present it to the rest of Sadc. The ownership will obviously change.

"It will not be owned by the two countries, but by the rest of Sadc countries; that is the identity it will go through. But at the same time we still have got other bilateral discussions and other issues between the two countries," he said.