THE local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa-Zimbabwe) yesterday described the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) recent calls for licences for diffusion, railcasting, webcasting and roadcasting services as another ploy to delay the opening up of the airwaves.
Staff Reporter
BAZ is a statutory body tasked with licensing of television and radio stations.
Despite promises by the inclusive government to open up the airwaves to private players, only two stations — Star FM and ZiFM — have been licensed.
“BAZ has once again demonstrated its reluctance to holistically open up the broadcasting sector so as to ensure Zimbabweans have access to information through multiple and diverse broadcasting outlets,” Misa director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said in a statement.
“While Zimbabweans have waited and called for wholesale broadcasting reforms that would see the country license community radio stations, some of whom have waited for more than 10 years, the licensing authority has once again adopted a piecemeal approach by calling for licenses for diffusion, railcasting, webcasting and roadcasting services.
He said none of the licences promised by BAZ would address information woes besetting marginalised communities that are yearning for broadcasting services that would enhance their access to information.
“It is for this reason that the recent call, coming as it does against deafening silence on BAZ’s progress in vetting licence applications for provincial commercial radio stations submitted in January 2012, should be seen within the context of sporadic attempts to give a misleading impression that there is movement with regards liberalising the airwaves when in essence the initiatives fall way below expectations,” Ngwenya said.
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“It is Misa-Zimbabwe’s position that BAZ should open up the airwaves to allow for the proliferation of diverse broadcasting stations that would fulfill Zimbabweans’ information woes, especially those that currently lie outside the information loop and whose need for radio services can never be overemphasised.
“Only then can its pronouncements be viewed as genuine attempts to comprehensively democratise the broadcasting sector.”
The latest licences would be for banks, hotels, transport operators and providers of content that falls under broadcasting services.
