Reports yesterday that the House of Assembly was almost reduced into a boxing arena as Honourable Members threw brickbats at each other over the issue of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) brings back to the fore the sensitive issue of media freedom in Zimbabwe.
The arguments forwarded by Mbizo legislator, Settlement Chikwinya, mover of the motion to dissolve the licence issuing authority appear not only valid, but unassailable. They are also very straightforward.
According to provisions of Section 4 of the Broadcasting Services Act, BAZ members are chosen by the President after consultation with the Parliamentary Standing Rules and Order Committee (SRC) which comprises members from all the country’s political parties.
What happened in this case is that Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu appointed the authority, apparently unilaterally.
Seconder of the motion, Zaka Central MP Harrison Mudzuri even wondered if, by taking it upon himself to appoint, Minister Shamu was at the time Acting President.
And if he was, the MP asked sarcastically, did he then consult himself as Information minister, according to the requirements of the law? Mudzuri said: “We are now wondering whether when a minister appoints BAZ members he is now the Acting President.
If he was the Acting President when he appointed them, did he then consult the Minister of Media Information and Publicity?
We want that to be clarified because as minister he does not have the authority to appoint these members as that is the prerogative of the President.
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These people in BAZ are illegal and illegitimate and were born out of an illegal marriage and such a person is illegitimate. So these licences are illegal and illegitimate.”
Chikwinya raises further questions about the legitimacy of BAZ some of whose members he says are rejects from the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) selection process.
We find this argument difficult to dismiss outright. Indeed how could failed candidates in the ZMC selection — including those that performed so dismally they were rated last — find their way not only to become members of BAZ, but to lead it? It is fact that in Zimbabwe, broadcast media is by far more influential than the print media.
The MP in his motion makes quite valid points which Zimbabweans ought to consider when looking at the current composition of BAZ and what it has done so far in the issuing of radio licences.
During the March and June 2008 elections, Chikwinya noted, ZBC, the sole broadcaster in the country, was blatantly biased towards one political party.
The broadcaster gave 210 hours and 39 minutes for Zanu PF campaigns while all other political parties received 16 hours collectively.
The other issue raised is the apparent link of those that obtained radio licences to a certain political party and the fact that none of the so-called pirate radio stations was given an opportunity to return to the country and broadcast from within our borders.
How does BAZ hope to achieve the Government of National Unity objective to have pirate stations closed when Zimbabweans working for those stations are denied licences to operate in Zimbabwe?
The truth of the matter — told bluntly — is that those in charge of BAZ have, on account of their compromised composition, done everything to entrench the control of our airwaves by one political party while doing nothing to stop the shrill cries from their masters for the abolishment of pirate radio stations.
