Back to Index

Stop derailing media reforms
Tabani Moyo
October 19, 2011

On 10 October 2011, the former chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media Information and Communication Technologies, Honourable Seiso Moyo crossed the divide from his role of overseeing the executive by becoming the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development. This was a move which we never saw coming nor did we second guess it. This is the new reality. In almost three years the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)-T has made three changes in media related positions at both parliamentary and executive level. This has caused serious regressions in the struggle for media reforms in Zimbabwe.

I had the privilege of working with both ZANU PF and MDC deployments at both parliamentary and executive levels. For the purposes of this article I will confine myself to the MDC-T deployments given the chain of disturbing re-deployments since the consummation of the inclusive government. There seems to be a disjuncture in the manner in which the party cadres are deployed to the respective ministries in government. The founding belief has been that you second party cadres in relation to their levels of expertise and abilities so that the party could best harness the deployments' craft competences.

Since the formation of the coalition government, one can note the commendable contributions by Honourable Jameson Timba, Hon. Gift Chimanikire and Hon Seiso Moyo. Timba served as the Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity before being moved to the office of the Prime Minister as the Minister of State. During his tenure though he sometimes stepped on media stakeholders' toes he was known for extensive consultations with the stakeholders and standing by the demands for the opening up of the media space. His efforts were to be short lived when he was replaced by Hon. Zvizvai Murisi on 22 June 2010.

Given the fact that I have been itching to strike an appointment with the Deputy Minister in vain since his appointment, I hope he will take time to read between the lines. I pray the MDC-T president will take this issue up.

Hon. Murisi, seems to be grappling to comprehend the complexities of the media reform agenda in this country. Having tracked most of his comments in the media I have come to the realization that he confuses wrestling for state media coverage with ZANU PF on behalf of his party as the milestone in the opening of the media space. This is missing the point by shocking margins! Apart from attempts to lure the state media into covering his political party's activities he has allegedly become notorious for frequenting phone calls to the independent press accusing reporters of being ZANU PF if they cover unfavourable stories on the MDC president, which in itself militates against the spirit of free press.

As it stands, the deputy minister seems to be waiting for a clearance from the Minster Webster Shamu for him to speak out on issues related to the media. Such is the parlous state of replacement which virtually left 'mukoma' George Charamba and the minister of Information Webster Shamu on a free reign. It is likened to a soccer team with one of its strikers limping, which derails the efforts of the other teammates. I hope this will be addressed sooner rather than later. I don't have anything against the deputy minister he is quite a nice person but definitely not the suitable one for the job. On the same date of mini-cabinet reshuffle, Hon. Gift Chimanikire, a man with a wealth of experience in the telecommunications was re-deployed from the portfolio committee on Media Information and Communication Technology to the Ministry of Mines. One can only wonder which criterion was used for such a seemingly blind move. Chimanikire played a very pivotal role in the small way the media space opened. He employed the experiences he gained as a trade unionist working at the now defunct Post and Telecommunications Cooperation (PTC). After such hard work he had to be made redundant in the Ministry of Mines.

Fortunately in this situation he was replaced as the chairperson of the committee by an equally competent chairperson Seiso Moyo. Under Moyo's leadership the stakeholders could call on his committee at any given time. Within a year in office, another blunder on the MDC side struck. He is now the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.

This points to a situation where by the MDC-T believes that the media issues are not bread and butter issues hence can be addressed later on. However the truth remains that the battle in Zimbabwe is based on intellect and when the vehicle for such intellect is not opened for the populace to make informed decision then there is neither bread nor butter. One can only but recommends the MDC-T President to consider the following:

• Replace Hon. Murisi with a person with the capabilities to deliver such as Hon. Chimanikire or Seiso Moyo
• To firstly carry out research before instituting mini-cabinet reshuffles
• To uphold the media reforms and its progression as a bread and butter issue for the people of Zimbabwe to make informed decisions

With such an approach, it is hoped that the media reform agenda which is limping because of the party's own making can at least be on rail again before going into the finer details on the media structure, law, policy and envisaged reforms ahead.

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