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| ZBC won’t air constitution jingles |
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| Written by TONDERAI KWIDINI |
| Friday, 30 July 2010 19:39 |
 HARARE – The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has refused to air jingles and other information advertising the ongoing outreach exercise, leaders of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) said last week. (Pictured: Douglas Mwonzora)
“We are struggling to get airtime on ZBC TV and radio to play our information jingles,” said Douglas Mwonzora, a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party and a co-chairman of the COPAC. “We had a meeting today (Friday) with the Minister of Information (Webster Shamu) who has promised to look into the matter, we pray that something will be done and we will be granted air space,” added Mwonzora. Officials from the state-owned but Zanu (PF)-controlled ZBC could not be reached yesterday for clarification why they would block information about a government-led constitutional reform exercise. But Paul Mangwana, from Zanu (PF) and a co-chairman of the COPAC, indicated that the ZBC was apparently demanding exorbitant amounts in airtime fees before they could air the jingles. “We are negotiating better prices. The jingles are not a commercial activity, they are simply teaching the public on how to engage with the ongoing constitution making process,” said Mangwana, who could not say when exactly they expect the jingles to be played on air. Mwonzora said Shamu has promised to direct the ZBC to allocate the committee one hour on air but had not said whether this would be an hour a day, a week or a month. While ZBC is refusing to air information on the constitution reforms the radio and television broadcaster has for the past weeks bombarded listeners with jingles praising President Robert Mugabe. The monotonous jingles are played almost every hour on all radio stations and television stations. |
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