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Parliament
blasts Broadcasting Authority
MISA-Zimbabwe
December 15, 2005
The Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has come under fire for its failure
to licence private players to enter the broadcasting sector.
Leo Mugabe,
the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport
and Communications, told Parliament that the BAZ could not generate
revenue as it had not licensed new players during the last three
years.
Presenting the
committee’s report on the 2006 budgetary allocations to the Ministry
of Information and Publicity and that of Transport and Communications,
Mugabe said BAZ needed to "wake up".
"Which
licenses, Mr Speaker, have they issued? This is an authority that
needs to wake up in 2006 and issue licences.
"They must
at least issue licences to the right people and get revenue,"
he said.
The Committee
is on record saying the BAZ would be summoned to appear before the
committee to explain why it has not invited applications for community
radio stations fours years after the enactment of the Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA) came into force.
The BAZ would
also be quizzed on the need to open the airwaves. "They need
to be more serious," said Mugabe in November this year.
Munhumutapa
African Broadcasting Corporation an aspiring commercial television
broadcasting station was this year denied an operating licence by
the regulatory authority.
The BAZ ruled
that MABC had failed to demonstrate to the regulatory body that
it had the financial muscle to launch a commercial television station.
Meanwhile, Mugabe
also took a swipe at former Minister of Information and Publicity
Professor Jonathan Moyo for "creating viability problems"
at the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH).
He said Moyo
had unbundled ZBH into nine companies, and New Ziana, the government-run
news agency, without providing seed money for its operations.
"The motive
of this former minister I can only leave it to your imagination,
Mr Speaker," said Mugabe.
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