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BAZ
a conduit for the ZANU PF election campaign
Tabani
Moyo
January 23, 2012
In the Sunday
Mail of January 22 - 28, 2012, the Chairperson of the disputed
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Dr Tafataona Mahoso was
going in circles trying to redeem the bettered image of the illegally
constituted board. He jumped from one point to another in a bid
to mislead the nation that everything was done above board pertaining
to the millennium charade of awarding licenses to ZANU PF sympathizers.
This article
tries to highlight the major defects pertaining to the status of
the BAZ and the subsequent awarding of three commercial licenses
to AB Communication and the Zimbabwe Newspaper (ZIMPAPERS) by the
same. The controversial move has been branded as a millennium charade
in the media circles and fraud elsewhere.
In trying to
dispel the ruse of impartiality and objectivity painted by Dr Tafataona
Mahoso the article shall attempt to zoom on the following critical
issues:
- Which advert
did the current board members responded to when they applied for
the positions they are holding, that is if ever they applied?
- Is it out
of coincidence that only the allegedly ZANU PF aliened companies
were granted the licenses to broadcast?
- Is the current
BAZ as is, ever going to discharge its duties without putting
on its political spectacles and/or probably party regalia?
- What is
the way forward under such circumstances?
- Where was
the advert flighted?
In the lengthy
and tedious interview in the weekly state owed Sunday Mail, Dr.
Mahoso painted a picture of normalcy on the status of the BAZ. This
is sad because as he is fully aware, he never responded to any advert
in the press for board members. The Parliament
of Zimbabwe advertised for commissioners- posts for the Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC). Mahoso and others applied for such placements
but failed, and dismally in that regard, in the public-s full
glare. How the doctor and others of like mind, who by the way failed
to make it into the ZMC ended up at the BAZ remains a millennium
mystery.
As members of
the public we are therefore calling on the Parliament of Zimbabwe
to follow the laws of the land. Through the Standing Rules and Orders
Committee (SROC), it should dissolve the current politicized outfit
and advertise vacancies for board members in the press for prospective
board members to apply. This is what it should have done in the
first place.
The day ZANU PF awarded itself licenses.
In early 2010,
the ZANU PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, was quoted by the Zimbabwe
Independent as saying both Tafataona Mahoso and Professor Jonathan
Moyo were doing voluntary work for his party. This is sequentially
confirmed by the contents of his long, meandering and some yester
year century articles in the state media where he is always trying
to spruce up the disintegrating party image.
The Manica Post
(7 - 13 October 2011) carried a apt headline titled Journalist
Supa Mandiwanzira joins politics. The headline was supported with
a picture of Supa Mandiwanzira flanked by two senior Zanu PF members.
The picture had the following caption: Zanu-PF national secretary
for administration, Cde Didymus Mutasa (left), Cde Moses Gutu (centre)
present Nyanga South constituency aspirant Supa Mandiwanzira to
party supporters during the constituency coordination meeting held
at Sedze Business Centre last Saturday. If the need be for purposes
of evidence and transparency I can still produce this newspaper
cutting.
Dr Paul Chimedza,
the chairperson of ZIMPAPERS is gunning for the Gutu South constituency
on the ZANU PF ticket.
Due to the space
constrains I will not hazard going into detail on the obvious party
lineage of the likes of Dr Vimbai Chivaura, Colonel Reuben Mqwayi
(Rtd), Ms Charity Moyo and Brig-Gen Elasto Madzingira (Rtd) among
others.
This smacks
of a ZANU PF ploy to beef up its tools as the party prepares for
elections sometime in 2013. It is upon us as the peoples of Zimbabwe,
the region, continent and the international community to note that
a BAZ chaired by a ZANU PF "voluntary worker" set and
issued two licenses to two commercial radio stations whose heads
are contesting in the forthcoming elections under the ZANU PF ticket.
This can only be defined as fraud.
A void
in broadcasting regulation.
Given the aforesaid
situation, there is a void in our broadcasting sector for there
is no legitimate and credible regulator to call for licenses for
the people of Zimbabwe to start broadcasting. Therefore, there is
no way under the current circumstances that the current board can
claim to be registering 'authentic broadcasters- in
essence what is happening is a clear situation were by ZANU PF is
building a paper trail to the establishment of its manifesto.
Zimbabweans
should refuse to be subjected to such a toy-story of political grandstanding
rather than national development.
Where do we
go from here?
In conclusion
we need sanity in the broadcasting industry through firstly ensuring
that the current BAZ board needs to be dissolved by parliament;
legal challenges and/or political parties coming back to their senses
and disbanding the creature which is causing chaos in the industry.
There after the long term solution has to safeguard against the
recurrence of such mischief through ensuring the establishment of
an Independent Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (IBAZ) that is
done in sync with the regulation of telecommunications and ICTs.
These two arms will be responsible of managing our frequency spectrum.
With such measures
in place, as a nation we would move towards much progressive issues
like digital migration rather than being stuck with Stone Age laws
like the Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA), Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Interception
of Communications Act (ICA) and the Criminal
law Codification and Reform Act (CODE) among others.
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