Zanu-PF is paying for political adverts being aired by the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), while the MDC Alliance is crying wolf
over unfair coverage by the national broadcaster because of failure to pay for
the available political advertising space, Permanent Secretary for Information,
Media and Broadcasting Services Mr George Charamba has said.
According to Section 160 H of the Electoral Act (Political
advertising in broadcasting and print media), all political parties should be
accorded advertising space by the national broadcaster, but such ads should be
paid for.
The act reads: “(1) …if the broadcaster or publisher is
prepared to publish any such advertisement a) it shall offer the same terms and
conditions of publication, without discrimination, to all the political parties
and candidates contesting the election; and b) the price it charges for
publication shall be at the lowest rate it offers to publishers of commercial
advertisements; and c) every such publication shall be identified clearly as an
advertisement.”
In an interview yesterday, Mr Charamba said the MDC
Alliance should not blame the national broadcaster for its lack of funding to
pay for the adverts.
“People must not confuse access and procurement issues. At
law, all political parties have a right of access to the national broadcaster,
but it’s up to the political players to translate that right into reality and
that is a function of the means, which are the resources and not of the law.
“If you look at the MDC Alliance party, they have been
clearly struggling to campaign properly, which is why they have been trying to
fundraise and which is also why they have not been able to purchase decent
platforms for their candidate,” he said in reference to the embarrassing
incident that saw MDC Alliance president Mr Chamisa falling off the stage in
Hwange last month.
Mr Charamba said the MDC Alliance’s financial woes are
there for all to see, as the party has even failed to put up posters on trees.
He was responding to claims by former MDC-T Member of
Parliament Mr Settlement Chikwinya who claimed that ZBC was charging
prohibitive fees.
“Beyond that, what their talkative outgone MP forgot to
remind himself is that there are no MDC Alliance adverts in newspapers, which
are a lot cheaper. Much worse, there are no MDC posters on trees. Is he
suggesting that even trees have hiked their prices?”
Mr Charamba added: “They should never be a sense in
anyone’s head that merely because they are contesting elections, that in itself
is a license to rundown the frames of ZBC as a broadcaster. We will not allow
that.
“The business of politics is expensive and if you are not
ready to meet the expenses, get out.”
He suggested that MDC Alliance members could be converting
party funds to personal use in anticipation of electoral defeat.
“They are thinking of life after defeat. You cant lose the
politics and lose the money also.”
In an interview with The Sunday Mail yesterday, ZBC chief
executive Mr Patrick Mavura said the MDC Alliance was among the motley of
parties that have failed to take up the national broadcaster’s call for
paid-for political adverts.
“We have availed programmes which are for free and other
programmes which are paid for through adverts.
“We have been having challenges with the paid for
programmes because only Zanu-PF has been able to pay while the other parties
are struggling.”
Mr Mavura said ZBC had reduced advertising rate for
political parties by 30 percent.
It is believed the opposition party has been pushing for
free coverage in order to compensate for their failure pay for ad space.
Last week, MDC Alliance spokesperson Mr Welshman Ncube told
our Bulawayo Bureau that his party had not been able to print posters for its
presidential candidate, Mr Chamisa.
He also revealed that the party had resorted to selling
regalia as it could not give it for free.
Early this year, Mr Chamisa’s party received US$1,873
663.83 under the Political Parties Fund Act, but MDCT- president Dr Thokozani
Khupe, who broke ranks with the MDC-Alliance, has been fighting to get a share
of the funds, saying her party was the legitimate beneficiary.
It is believed that the decision by non-Governmental
organisations to turn off the taps due to alleged abuse of funds and the
ineptness of beneficiaries has compounded the opposition political parties’
challenges. Sunday Mail
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