Zimbabwe govt urged to license private broadcasters

New players will determine fate of state broadcaster

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Trustee Beatrice Mtetwa urged the inclusive government to license new private broadcasters saying only competition will force the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to transform and serve its public service mandate.

In her keynote address on 3 May 2011 at a World Press Freedom Day breakfast meeting organised by MISA-Zimbabwe in Harare, Mtetwa said the existing political environment did not allow for the immediate and short-term transformation of ZBC as is generally being agitated for.

Focus should be on the licensing of new private players to break the monopoly of ZBC. "I doubt that ZBC in its current state and in our current political environment can in fact be transformed. I believe very strongly that the state of any sector in any given country depends entirely on the state of its democracy and governance.

"The route we ought to be taking is not (to seek the immediate) transformation of ZBC but providing serious competition to ZBC," said the leading human rights lawyers who has also won international awards in defence of media freedom. She said competition would determine the fate of ZBC.

Mtetwa said it would be an insurmountable task to transform ZBC under the current political environment as there would be resistance compounded by lack of political will to undertake requisite media reforms. Her comments come at a time of increasing pressure to liberalise the airwaves and urgent need for transformation of ZBC from a state to a truly independent broadcaster.

ZBC has over the years been accused of being partisan and biased in favour of the former ruling Zanu PF which is now part of the inclusive government which also comprises the two MDC formations. "Our state of governance and democracy will not allow ZBC transformed, we will need to transform ourselves first," she said.

"If ZBC dies let it die because other broadcasters are there and will be favoured by those who require their services more than we are currently getting from ZBC."

MISA-Zimbabwe is commemorating this year's event under the theme: Broadcasting Reforms on the Agenda: Free the Airwaves Now!

While the majority of the 14-member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) now boast of a plethora of privately owned broadcasting stations and community radio stations, Zimbabwe remains stagnated as a monolithic pariah state whose airwaves continue to be monopolised by the state controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

This untenable situation has seen pressure mounting for the licensing of private radio/television stations as well as the establishment of community radio stations as envisioned under the African Charter on Broadcasting.