ZBC yesterday told the parliamentary portfolio committee on
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services that it will soon enact a policy
that prohibits its staffers from contesting in future political elections.
This comes after the State broadcaster came under fire
after some of its employees contested in the 2018 harmonised elections on Zanu
PF ticket and many critics said this compromised their objectivity when
covering events.
“We are working on a policy which will change the culture
of the organisation.
“We are aware of the concerns raised pertaining to the
employees who dabbles in politics and the new policy which is being crafted is
going to change that,” ZBC acting chief executive officer Wisdom Hombarume told
the Prince Sibanda (Binga North) chaired committee yesterday.
In 2018, the ZBC staffers, who included Tendai Munengwa,
Andrew Neshamba (Zanu PF Mt Darwin South) and Richmond Siyakurima (Zanu PF
Uzumba), among others, participated in political elections.
ZBC board
chairperson Josaya Tai said there was no law that prohibited journalists from
participating in any election.
Turning to the State broadcaster’s operations, Tai said his
board was determined to transform ZBC into a competitive news organisation.
“We are here for culture change. Our thrust is on
rebranding the public broadcaster,” Tai said.He said ZBC is bedevilled by a number of problems, chiefly
poor funding.
“We need foreign currency in our operations and it is a
challenge to access it.
“There is poor funding mechanisms considering that
licensing contributes only five percent of total revenue.
“To make matters worse, the licences fees were last
reviewed in 2009.
“Non-payment of ZBC by government agencies or arms further
bleeds the broadcaster. As a result, the broadcaster has a service debt of
about $100 million,” Tai said.
“Owing to poor funding, the State broadcaster is being
accused of bias towards a certain political party.
“They say he who pays the piper dictates the tune.“The staffers are not well remunerated hence some of them
will end up being compromised by certain individuals in politics,” he said. Daily News
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