Corporation (ZBC) should thus be transformed into a truly independent broadcaster that is
open to diverse views and opinions from Zimbabwe’s multi-sectoral populace.

Media Environment
The year under review passed without the envisaged media legislative and policy reforms
compounded by conflicting statements by the Executive on the way forward, four years after
inception of the 2013 Constitution.
At the centre, if not the purveyor of these conflicting statements, was George Charamba,
the Information ministry permanent secretary. On 18 February 2017, Charamba appeared
before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Broadcasting
Services.
Speaking under oath, he said laws such as AIPPA and BSA were archaic and out of sync with
21st Century media regulatory frameworks. He outlined six compelling issues as to why
these laws were no longer fit for purpose, notably:
 Need to comply with the new (2013) constitution
 Developments in the broadcasting and print sectors
 Macro-technological changes
 Changing societal tastes
 Need for conformity to the strategic goals of the nation and convergence of
technological and global factors on information
“… we have a new constitution which we embraced in 2013. It’s the new rules book to
which everything else must cohere to,” said Charamba.
And as the year came to an end, Charamba brewed a scapegoat for non-implementation of
the reforms. In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent on 18 December 2017, he
said:
“The only problem that I have is that the agitation for media reforms is prompted by
transient calculations. The state of Zimbabwe subsists ad infinitum and the state is much
more than institutions that make it. There are seismic changes happening in the media
sector.

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