THE Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) has expressed concern over the mandate of the Reprographic Rights Organisation of Zimbabwe (RROZ), arguing that it lacked clarity.
ZWA’s major bone of contention is that the organisation was created without writers’ involvement.
This comes following a report in the Masvingo Mirror that the Zimbabwe Republic Police had ordered RROZ chief executive Antony Rimau to stop using police officers as enforcers for collections in the province.
RROZ had reportedly gone around with police officers in the Masvingo provincial capital, demanding copyright licence fees, which businesspeople in the town said they did not understand.
In a statement signed by the organisation’s chairperson, Monica Cheru, ZWA said issues that writers have raised around representation, transparency and accountability in the management of reprographic rights were brought to the fore.
“Writers are the primary rights holders in literary works. It is therefore a matter of principle that no entity claiming to license, collect, or administer rights on behalf of writers can do so without clear legitimacy, transparency and a demonstrable mandate from writers themselves and their representative bodies.
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“Zwa calls on RROZ to publicly clarify the basis of its representation, including publication of the writers whose rights it claims to manage, the terms of the representation and the governance framework under which those rights are administered,” read the ZWA statement.
RROZ, Cheru added, was operating as a private arrangement. “Collective management must be built on trust. In a sector where longstanding concerns exist around royalty accountability, trust cannot be presumed without being earned.
“There are also unresolved practical questions around the scope of collections being pursued.
“Where levies are sought from embroiderers and users of protected designs, clarity is required as to whom such collections represent, how rights ownership is determined, whether logo-owning institutions, designers, authors or other rights holders are recognised, and by what mechanism revenues are being distributed,” Cheru
said.
She added that RROZ should only be allowed to continue operating after addressing their concerns satisfactorily.
“These questions indicate deep structural legitimacy issues with the RROZ model.
“Zwa, therefore, maintains that key governance, representation and accountability issues should be satisfactorily resolved before a collective management structure is permitted to collect on behalf of writers.
“Our position is not opposition to reprographic rights management. On the contrary, Zimbabwe needs an effective, credible and inclusive system to protect authors and support fair remuneration. But such a system must be built with writers, not around them,” Cheru
said.
RROZ was licensed by the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry in October 2024 to regulate and manage reprographic reproduction rights in Zimbabwe.