Zim MPs Urge Mnangagwa Govt to Look into Journalists’ Welfare

At a time when staffers in the media industry have been facing survival difficulties amid a weak local currency that has rendered their monthly earnings virtually impotent, Zimbabwean parliamentarians have implored on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Government to establish a National Employment Council that focuses on the welfare of the scribes.

In her presentation of a report on the current state of the media in Zimbabwe, Sipho Mokone who is the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Chairperson on Information and Media, bemoaned the appalling working conditions of the journalists and the chaotic manner through which journalists were being accredited by Mnangagwa’s Government, through the press-governing Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).

Said Mokone in her presentation to Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa:

“The ZMC) should speed up the accreditation and registration process of journalists and media companies and cards should reach journalists in areas such as Victoria Falls.”

According to the MPs, the proposed national employment council should be established this March.

“The Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services ministry should by March 2022, review and align laws that regulate the media environment with the Constitution such as the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act, Official Secrets Act, sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Interception of Communications Act. The Finance and Economic Development ministry and the Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services ministry should assist media houses in accessing foreign currency to acquire equipment.”

Furthermore, the Mokone-led Committee also said the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe should reduce radio bandwidth to less than 90km so that it can be accessed by several listeners by May 2022. privatemedia.

Zwnews