The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
THE law does not allow community radio stations to be political, and those participating in politics risk losing their licences, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana has said.
Officiating at a United Nations (UN) workshop on development reporting in Mutare yesterday, Mr Mangwana said political content was likely to be divisive.
“Those radio stations are only for developmental issues and other human interests. Politics divides people.
“The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has monitors. There is a monitor for each community radio who monitors content and compliance with the law,” he said.
The monitors were also conversant with local languages.
“If someone is pushing a political agenda, they will be dealt with by the regulator, and this may result in the loss of a licence.”
Communities, including corporates, he added, should contribute towards sustaining community radio stations.
He said development reporting was important as it created awareness and enabled the nation to take an interest in various projects being spearheaded by Government and other stakeholders.
He pointed out the important role development reporting plays towards the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
SDGs and the Second Republic’s Vision 2030, which seeks to attain an upper middle-income economy by 2030, were aligned, he added.
“We will push the Government and nation’s developmental thrust in tandem with the SDGs,” he said.
“My ministry, whose mandate is to ensure citizens have access to information through developmental reporting, is underpinned by the Sustainable Development Goal 16: ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’, and one of its targets calls for states to ‘ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements’.”
Mr Mangwana said there were a lot of projects, including infrastructural, that were taking place to ensure SDG9, which calls for the creation of platforms and infrastructure in an innovative way, is attained.
Ongoing transformative project include Lake Gwayi-Shangani, Hwange Power Station Unit 7 and 8, Beitbridge Border Post upgrade, Harare-Beitbridge Road, Kunzvi Dam and road rehabilitation under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Project (ERRP).
“Hospitals and clinics are being built, so are many housing projects, and of course the community radio stations in which we receive support from one of the UN agencies, UNESCO.”
The meeting is being attended by senior journalists, sub-editors and editors in both the print and electronic media, UN Communications Group (UNCG), Zimbabwe UN Sustainable Development Cooperation (ZUNSDCF) pillar leaders, among others.
