Advancements in technology mean that these previously distinct fields overlapped and thus no longer
efficient to administer them separately. Meanwhile, Charamba did not go into detail on what the merged
parastatal would look like in terms of its composition or roles as well as that of Transmedia, the signal
carrier. He also did not give timelines on when the merger of BAZ and POTRAZ would be finalised.
POTRAZ was established in terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, while BAZ was
established in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act. Government will have to establish the new
parastatal by an Act of Parliament. Government’s first option is to amend either of the two Acts which
established POTRAZ and BAZ to include the expanded roles of the merged parastatal. The second
option is to come up with a new Act which establishes the merged parastatal.
Digitisation
Zimbabwe is now way beyond the 17 June 2015 International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU),
deadline for migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, a development it attributes to lack of
funds. The country also missed the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) June 2016
deadline.
Nick Mangwana, the Permanent Secretary for Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services, in
2018 said the digitisation project needed direct funding of an estimated $100 million for its completion.
He made this revelation when he submitted his ministry’s budget estimates to the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Media and Broadcasting.
Mangwana warned that inadequate budget allocations would further delay completion of the digitisation
project.
Unfortunately, Mangwana’s pleas went unheeded as only $45 million was allocated to the ministry. This
amount is meant to cover the ministry’s administrative and project costs including the digitisation
exercise. Even if the whole amount of $45 million was dedicated to digitisation, it would still woefully fall
short of getting the job done.
This is unfortunate because Mangwana said government would only start licensing more television and
radio stations once the digitisation process is complete. This therefore, makes the advancement of
media plurality contingent on the completion of the digitisation exercise.
This will most likely perpetuate the current situation where for example, community radio stations have
gone unlicensed for the past 17 years. MISA Zimbabwe is therefore appealing for the expeditious

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