BROADCASTING IN ZIMBABWE

Jennifer Mufune

MISA (Media Institute for Southern Africa)-Zimbabwe has been in the forefront fighting for the liberalisation of the airwaves in Zimbabwe. The Broadcasting Act of 1957 is still in use and it proclaims that ' no person other than the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation ( ZBC) shall carry on broadcasting service in Zimbabwe' . This in effect means that the state has a hundred per cent control on anything that they want broadcast. The Minister of Information appoints the Board of Governors. The government has managed to penetrate the corporation's structures by placing party favourites in management and editorial positions. The broadcast service being provided by the corporation does not effectively service the Zimbabwean public. It does not exist to provide the public with a forum for the exchange of information or a channel to effectively participate in national affairs. MISA Zimbabwe working with other stakeholders has tried to actively get the public involved in the liberalisation of the airwaves. In February 1997, MISA Zimbabwe and PANOS Institute for Public and Policy Debate (Lusaka office) organised a workshop to involve civic society on the liberalisation of the airwaves in Zimbabwe. A follow up workshop whose main objective was to find ways of lobbying Zimbabwean Parliamentarians on law reforms was held. This was done against a background of an Independent Broadcasting Authority for Zimbabwe. Following this workshop , MISA Zimbabwe came up with the idea of visiting South Africa to see how the community broadcasting sector was working. South Africa has developed a structured manner of dealing with community broadcasting in the form of the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The meeting had recommended that an independent broadcasting authority be set up that would be charged with the responsibility of allocating frequencies and licenses. MISA Zimbabwe wants to see how the South African IBA is operating in South Africa. MISA Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, the Zimbabwe Media Council and the Federation of Africa Women - Zimbabwe chapter are lobbying the government to repeal or amend laws which restrict media freedom or people's access to information. Of particular concern at the moment is the Draft Communications Bill, 1998 which puportedly seeks, to among other things, end the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's and Posts and Telecommunications monopolies on broadcasting and telecommunications respectively. Calls for an overhaul of the Bill have been made as it does not break the ZBC grip on broadcasting, but rather seems to entrench it. The section on the composition of an Independent Communications Authority is a worrying concern for MISA Zimbabwe and other groups fighting the Bill because it still gives the Minister of Information and the President sweeping powers to appoint or suspend members of the ICA. MISA Zimbabwe's Research Information Officer, Ms Sarah Chiumbu said the government's recent pronouncements at meetings and in the press indicate that Bill will be passed anyway despite the calls being made. In the meantime organisation such as the Federation of African Women - Zimbabwe chapter (FAMWZ) in conjunction with Radio 4 introduced a project called Development Through Radio (DTR) also popularly known as the Rural Radio Listeners Clubs which is based on the concept of radio forums. This project is aimed at giving rural women access to radio through participation in the making of programmes which are based on their development needs and priorities. At the moment there are 52 radio listening clubs in Zimbabwe with roughly 35 women in each group. Geographically the clubs exist in 4 out of the 9 provinces of the country, namely Mashonaland East and West and Matabeleland North and South. The most important aspect of this radio forums is that the women themselves are actively involved in the production of the programmes. A coordinator visits the women on alternate days to record the programmes. The women discuss various issues that affect them and ask questions to a particular ministry or official on things that they either clarification or responses to and it is all uncensored. The coordinator then goes back to the studio and gets someone from the relevant ministry for example Health, to respond to the women's queries. The programme is then aired on specific days like on Wednesdays and the women are able to listen to themselves. It has proved very popular and the women have expressed satisfaction at being heard as this is a way for them to speak out on issues that affect them as rural women. It is anticipated that with the liberalisation of the airwaves, the project has the potential to be established into several community radio stations. Another project has been undertaken by another NGO is the Farm Radio network or Farm Information Network whose main role is to distribute information on farming techniques to farmers, broadcasters, writers, agricultural advisors, teachers, missionaries, health workers and other rural communicators. The way it works is that packages of a dozen radio scripts are sent to 70 participants in 12 African countries. The Farm Radio network does not have access to free air time from the national broadcaster and thus has to pay for the air time like other non-governmental organisations. Again it is anticipated that the project which has great potential to be established into several community radio stations once the air waves have been freed.

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