The Herald reports that Information Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere, said yesterday the
Cabinet considered and adopted the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill,
presented by Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi
as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Legislation.
The major objective of the Broadcasting Services Amendment
Bill is to align the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06] with the
Constitution and also with the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act.
“The enactment of the legislation will amend several
sections of the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06]. Of special mention
is the amendment of section 2A of the principal Act on the role of the
Broadcasting Services of Zimbabwe which is to regulate and manage the
broadcasting services bands for sustenance rather than control of broadcasting
service bands.
“The Bill will also provide a new provision, which will
prohibit the Zimbabwe National Road Administration and every motor insurance
cover to sell a motor vehicle licence and motor insurance policy respectively
to individuals without the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation current radio
licence or an exemption certificate from the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation,
unless the vehicle to be insured is not equipped with a radio signal receiver,”
he said.
Dr Muswere said the Bill mandates the national broadcaster
to broadcast 75 percent in local content. Further, the Bill will provide for a
licencee with a sports channel to broadcast 50 percent local sports content in
view of the fact that sporting events are universal and international sports
may bring commercial value to licencees.
Responding to questions from journalists, Dr Muswere said
ZBC will make inspections to ensure compliance.
He said it was important for a national broadcaster to
accrue revenue from licences, as it was mandated by the law to flight national
and events of public interest.
This, Dr Muswere said, was different from commercial
broadcasting stations that are not legally obliged to broadcast national events
such as burial of national heroes or awareness programmes of a pandemic and
parliamentary sittings, among others.
The Second Republic has over the years taken a deliberate
position to reform the media landscape through bringing in more players as a
way of promoting media diversity and pluralism.
There is also the Media Practitioners Bill, which seeks to
ensure uniformity in the training of media players.
It will also, among other things, standardise training in
journalism and mass communication to enhance professionalism.
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