PDZ welcomes Prof Jonathan Moyo stepping down from government

The Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe (PDZ) welcomes a decision which saw Information Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo leaving government of Zimbabwe despite whatever technicalities.

An advocate of draconian laws in our country, Moyo is the master mind of AIPPA - a restrictive media law which ended up closing the Daily News in 2003 and failure to open up more media space, thereby forcing media consumers to seek for other alternative like Dstv and some other South African channels.

As a democratic grouping we believe his absence in government even for a short period will change the whole of the media fraternity. This is a temporary victory for the media environment which is struggling to have a positive direction under Moyo.

Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe expects the ruling government to come up with a provision of registering more television stations which was proving so difficult under Moyo's leadership.

It was also pathetic to see that there was less coverage of other opposition political parties Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe included during the last held by Elections. Thus the electorate was not well informed of the other existing political parties because of poor media coverage.

Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe feel that our country needs more media houses to cater for the majority of people who do not have access to the internet. The government of Zimbabwe under the Minister of Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo has dismally failed to allow other private players to participate in the media industry. There are no community radio stations to talk about in the country.

This kind of development does not augur well for the development of a country. Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe will keep on fighting for opening of air waves and promoting media products. Media plays an important role in shaping our culture and the way we live. We are still lagging behind from such countries like our neighbours South Africa , Botswana and Zambia just to mention a few. These countries have vibrant media organisations which have more community radio stations than Zimbabwe.

Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe appeals to the government to speed up the process of registering more radio and television stations and strongly support every initiative to register more media houses as they are the panacea for a developing country.

Leonard Koni
PDZ National Publicity & Media Relations
Cell : +263733168017