Back to Index

New CEO for state broadcaster
MISA-Zimbabwe
October 13, 2006

Henry Muradzikwa has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings. He takes over from Rino Zhuwarara, a University of Zimbabwe media lecturer. Muradzikwa is the former Editor-in-Chief of the New Zimbabwe InterAfrica News Agency (ZIANA).

Background
The ZBH has been hunting for a new CEO for the past three months after the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications came up with a report critical of the state broadcaster on 1 June 2006. And made a number of recommendations on the transformation of the state broadcaster .

While the government acknowledge the serious weakness in the management of the ZBH, the proposed changes fall far short of what is needed to transform the ZBH into a true public broadcaster. The ZBH has proposed streamlining its business units from nine to three as well as laying off staff. MISA-Zimbabwe, in its response to the parliamentary report noted that the problems at ZBH are not only structural but about governance as the state broadcaster has no known public mandate obligations and has been turned into a propaganda tool by the ruling elite.

MISA-Zimbabwe submitted to parliament that the ZBH should be governed by an independent board appointed through a transparent public process and accountable to parliament and not the executive. MISA-Zimbabwe expressed concern that while the ZBH has been turned into a company through the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Commercialisation Act of 2001, the same station is expected to play a public mandate role at the same time operate for profit. MISA-Zimbabwe also submitted that there is need for an act that governs the public broadcaster and guarantees its independence from political and economic influence. These glaring policy contradictions indicate a lack of commitment to turning the ZBH into a public broadcaster and lends credence to a 1999 parliamentary report that the ZBH is, in fact, a personal theatre of every minister of information who comes into office.

The new appointments at ZBH are, therefore, unlikely to change anything as the station will remain under the tight grip of the executive and closed to any alternative voices. The ZBH is riddled with material and manpower incapacities.

Visit the MISA-Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP