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MABC appears before BAZ
MISA-Zimbabwe
June 10, 2005

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has reserved determination on the suitability of Munhumutape African Broadcasting Corporation (MABC) Private Limited to be granted a licence for a 24-hour free to air commercial television channel.

The BAZ’s licensing committee reserved determination following a public hearing conducted in Harare Wednesday after MABC’s chief executive Oscar Kubara made his presentation before being grilled by the committee and members of the public.

Kubara gave a detailed presentation on the corporate structure, funding and envisaged programme content of the aspiring television station.

He told the public hearing that the television station planned to broadcast news, current affairs, movies, soaps, talk shows, music, drama, sports, cartoons and would broadcast in English, Ndebele, Kalanga, Tonga and Nyanja.

Concern was raised on the company’s funding plans in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), which bars foreign funding and partnerships in the broadcasting sector.

Members of the BAZ wanted to know how Kubara was going to raise the capital injection for the project and the nature of the relationship between MABC and its technical partners.

He said the technical partners would not hold equity in the wholly Zimbabwean-owned company but would be engaged strictly as suppliers of equipment and expertise.

MABC was registered in 1997 and briefly leased the then Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s TV 2 channel from 1997 to 1998 before switching off due to financial problems.

Some members of the public urged the BAZ to consider that some MABC directors had pending criminal cases and were active members of opposition political parties.

BAZ chief executive Thomas Mandigora said the board would investigate the various allegations before they consider granting the station a licence.

"As a committee we will look into the various issues raised by the applicant and the public before we determine the issue of granting a licence," said Mandigora.

MABC was the sole applicant for a free-to –air national commercial television station for which applications were invited in November 2004.

Four other applicants failed to meet the requirements for a free-to-air commercial radio station among them Radio Dialogue, which plans to launch a community radio station in Bulawayo at a time when Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings still retains sole monopoly of the airwaves.

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