Minister Muswere dispels reports on interference

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

THE Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere has dismissed allegations by some online publications that the Ministry was interfering with strategic and operational matters at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) as malicious.

In a statement, Dr Muswere said the falsehoods peddled by those online publications were bent on tarnishing the image of the Government.

“The Ministry wants to categorically make it clear that the chief executive officer of ZBC is responsible for administrative decisions while the Board superintends over issues of good corporate governance.

“The Ministry only provides policy guidance and direction and does not interfere with operations at the institution in terms of Section 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 20 of 2013, which states that broadcasting and other electronic media of communication have freedom of establishment and are independent of control by Government or by political or commercial interests,” said Dr Muswere.

He said the deployment of staff at ZBC is therefore the responsibility of the CEO (Charles Munganasa) working with the board and neither the Ministry nor any third party has authority over that.

“I call upon all media practitioners to exercise their duties within the confines of the law as Section 164c of the Cyber and Data Protection Act prohibits any person from transmitting data messages inciting violence and transmission of false data message intending to cause harm.

“I also encourage the media to adhere to the ethics of journalism which include truthfulness, accuracy, authenticity, and objectivity,” said the Minister.