Story by Memory Chamisa
THE government has reaffirmed its commitment to the media sector transformation but warned players to always operate within the confines of the law.
Speaking on the sidelines of the third anniversary of a local broadcasting media house in Harare this Friday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said, that while media freedom is fully guaranteed in Zimbabwe, advocating for the overthrowing of a legitimate government is unconstitutional.
“The government says the media has no room to fuel the overthrowing of a legitimate government. As the nation journeys towards Vision 2030, it is important to appreciate and understand the constitutional obligations particularly Section 61 and Section 62 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” Dr Muswere said.
“Section 61 of the Constitution is clear in terms of the freedom of expression and the freedom of media and Section 62, also speaks to access to information. We should also be very clear in terms of the supreme law of the country, the right to broadcast the overthrowing of a legitimate and democratic government does not exist in our Constitution. The media freedom, the freedom of expression that we have should always be guarded jealously and we should always protect our journalists.”
Minister Muswere also said the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the Ministry will continue to work together with members of the fourth estate to give direction for the nation’s development as witnessed by the opening up of airwaves.
“This is one of the achievements in terms of the 8 000 projects under the Second Republic. The opening of airwaves has witnessed media plurality and diversity in the sphere ensuring information dissemination reaches all communities countrywide. What advertisers follow is content and what this TV station has managed to do is produce content that is diverse. The more our country imports content from abroad, it means we are exporting jobs and at the same killing our content creators whom we need to support.
“This will ensure the industry grows. The Second Republic’s resolve to further open up the airwaves to ensure information dissemination reaches all communities countrywide has witnessed TV stations and radio stations being given licenses to broadcast.”
Zimbabwe under the Second Republic has made great strides in implementing media reforms as the government continues to engage stakeholders in order to fine-tune relevant legislation while facilitating the growth of the media sector.
