The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
ESTABLISHMENT of community radio stations in different areas around the country will go a long way in addressing communication challenges normally faced in times of natural calamities like Cyclone Idai, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, has said.
Minister Mutsvangwa said this on Monday while addressing attendees during the handover of broadcasting equipment donated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to one of the 14 licensed community radio stations in Chimanimani.
Minister Mutsvangwa said: “The natural disaster ravaged Chimanimani and left scars, both physical and emotional that continue to haunt people to this day. It calls for an efficient national communication system to best manage the negative and most deleterious effects of such natural disasters.
“The availability of a community radio station in this part of the country will go a long way in enhancing early warning systems against destructive natural phenomenon such as we experienced with Cyclone Idai.
“This, along with other technologies being developed within the ambit of our sister, Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Courier Services, as well as other agencies of Government, will further strengthen our ability as Government to detect and warn our people in advance of such devastating catastrophes.”
The triumvirate of events in Chimanimani on Monday included International Day of Universal Access to Information (UDAI), handover of community radio equipment to the people of Chimanimani, along with the launch of Information For all Programme (IFAP).
Minister Mutsvangwa went on to assert Government’s commitment to opening up the media space.
She said apart from the provision of signal carrier infrastructure, her ministry was also seized with putting in place an enabling legislation framework that guarantees freedom of expression.
“The drive to increase access to information as a public good saw my ministry fast tracking the building of signal carrier infrastructure and issuing of community radio licences to communities living in former hard to reach outlying areas of the country. To this end, my ministry has since issued 21 community radio licences.
“In the past 12 months, Government has made tremendous progress in realigning the legal and regulatory framework with the provisions of our Constitution on the right of citizens to information and expression through the repeal of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the enactment, in its place, Freedom of Information Act (July 2020) and the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act (October 2020), which together provide ambiance for the realisation of freedom of communication rights enshrined in our Bill of citizens’ rights,” she said.
The Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, said Government was focusing on laying the requisite infrastructural needs as well as a policy and regulatory framework to enable unimpeded access to information.
“The importance of building a knowledgeable and well informed citizenry needs not be emphasised. Our focus as the nation of Zimbabwe this year has been in laying the requisite infrastructural spinal cord as well as a policy and regulatory framework to enable unimpeded access and enjoyment of citizens’ right to know.
“Our nation experience with the management and control of Covid-19 pandemic has taught us in the past 12 months that access to information is a cornerstone of building a healthy and inclusive knowledge societies.
“We have really came a long way. To this date, my ministry under the Second Republic led by the visionary leadership of His Excellency, Dr Mnangagwa has issued licences to six television stations, 10 commercial radio stations, 14 community radio stations and seven campus radio stations,” she said.
