MDC-T reports ZBC to JOMIC for using hate speech

The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) has asked the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to urgently respond to allegations of using the hate language and partisan reporting, reported RadioVop.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party has formally lodged a complaint with JOMIC over ZBC's unprofessionalism.

MDC-T says that the ZBC was constantly subjecting Tsvangirai and its leadership, including Finance Minister Tendai Biti, to public flogging during its news bulletins.

The party said ZBC's actions were against the spirit of the inclusive government as spelt out by the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara in September, 2008.

It further accused the ZBC of using hate language and showing open biased towards Mugabe and his party Zanu-PF despite the three parties in the GPA agreeing on sweeping media reforms, including the reform of the ZBC.

The MDC-T further charged that the ZBC through its radio and television broadcasts, daily denigrated Tsvangirai.

JOMIC wrote to the ZBC on 20 July, 2011, demanding that the state broadcaster's chief executive officer, Happison Muchechetere, respond to the allegations raised by the MDC-T through its secretary general Biti.