Voice of Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) was officially launched in the Midlands capital of Gweru on 30 July 2010.
Voice of Zimbabwe was established in 2007 and broadcasts on shortwave frequency.
While the restrictive Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) acknowledges the three-tier broadcasting system comprising public, private and community radio stations broadcasting, no single private player has been allowed to enter the broadcasting sector since its enactment in 2001.
Equally, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is still to call for applications for licences for community radio stations, nine odd years after the enactment of the BSA.
Zimbabwe has the dubious distinction of being among the very few African countries without privately owned commercial television and radio stations as well as community radio stations, 30 years after independence from colonial rule.
The country is therefore in breach of the principles of the African Charter on Broadcasting which encourages members states to adopt the three-tier broadcasting system and transform state-run broadcasters such as ZBH into truly independent public service broadcasters.
In a report presented at the MISA-Zimbabwe 2010 AGM held in Bulawayo on 31 July, the organisation's Chairperson Loughty Dube urged Zimbabweans to raise the decibels in their agitations for a liberalised broadcasting environment.
" MISA-Zimbabwe therefore takes this opportunity (of the 2010 AGM) to reiterate its calls for the government to free the airwaves and allow for the entry of new players in the broadcasting sector as well as community radio stations as stipulated under the African Charter on Broadcasting's three-tier broadcasting system," said Dube.
"The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation should equally be transformed into a truly independent public broadcaster for it to fulfil its public service mandate as stipulated in terms of the African Charter on Broadcasting and the SADC Principles and Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections." (http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Voice of Zimbabwe was established in 2007 and broadcasts on shortwave frequency.
While the restrictive Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) acknowledges the three-tier broadcasting system comprising public, private and community radio stations broadcasting, no single private player has been allowed to enter the broadcasting sector since its enactment in 2001.
Equally, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is still to call for applications for licences for community radio stations, nine odd years after the enactment of the BSA.
Zimbabwe has the dubious distinction of being among the very few African countries without privately owned commercial television and radio stations as well as community radio stations, 30 years after independence from colonial rule.
The country is therefore in breach of the principles of the African Charter on Broadcasting which encourages members states to adopt the three-tier broadcasting system and transform state-run broadcasters such as ZBH into truly independent public service broadcasters.
In a report presented at the MISA-Zimbabwe 2010 AGM held in Bulawayo on 31 July, the organisation's Chairperson Loughty Dube urged Zimbabweans to raise the decibels in their agitations for a liberalised broadcasting environment.
" MISA-Zimbabwe therefore takes this opportunity (of the 2010 AGM) to reiterate its calls for the government to free the airwaves and allow for the entry of new players in the broadcasting sector as well as community radio stations as stipulated under the African Charter on Broadcasting's three-tier broadcasting system," said Dube.
"The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation should equally be transformed into a truly independent public broadcaster for it to fulfil its public service mandate as stipulated in terms of the African Charter on Broadcasting and the SADC Principles and Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections." (http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
(via Arnaldo Slaen)
