adminZvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe yesterday defended the issuance of more than one broadcasting licence to Zimpapers and AB Communications, saying the enabling law did not limit the number of licences one could get.
BAZ chief executive officer Mr Obert Muganyura said as long as an individual or a firm met specifications prescribed by the law, the regulatory body would issue it with a licence.
Mr Muganyura was responding to concerns raised by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Broadcasting Services on why Zimpapers and AB Communications got more than one commercial radio licences.
“We have to be clear that BAZ issues licences in accordance with guidelines it gets from the Broadcasting Services Act,” he said.
“The law does not limit the number of licences that can be given to a person. The clause that gave limits was actually removed from the Act. There is no legal basis for BAZ to deny a person if they meet the conditions in terms of the Act.”
Mr Muganyura said no one else had applied for commercial radio stations in areas that Zimpapers and AB Communications had sought their broadcasting licences.
BAZ issued eight commercial radio station licences in March this year where Zimpapers’ Diamond FM got the nod to offer services in Mutare, while AB Communications’ Gogoi FM and FAYA FM would be broadcasting in Masvingo and Gweru respectively.
Mabvuku MP Mr James Maridadi (MDC-T) asked why Zimpapers that already ran Star FM radio and AB Communications that owned ZiFM Stereo continued to get broadcasting licences.
Hwange Central MP Mr Brian Tshuma (MDC-T) said BAZ was wrong in restricting itself to the enabling Act alone, but was obliged to look at other laws like the Competition and Commission Act that did not allow the creation of a monopoly.
Magwegwe MP Mr Anele Ndebele (MDC-T) said it was never the objective of the law to be “ridiculous” by creating a monopoly.
Mr Muganyuri said legislators might have a valid point and requested to consult with his lawyers.
On church television channels beaming to Zimbabwean audiences, Mr Muganyura said none of them had registered with BAZ.
He said the church television channels were taking advantage of gaps in the law, but BAZ was working with stakeholders on how the legal statutes could be strengthened.
On why it was taking long for BAZ to grant community radio licences, Mr Muganyura said his organisation was pre-occupied with digitisation of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Transmedia and would commence considering that in March next year.
He said the law also needed to be attended to as there was no definition of what constitute a “community”.
BAZ, said Mr Muganyura, did not recognise those radio stations that currently claimed to be community radio stations as well as pirate radio stations like Studio 7.
He said there was need to craft a framework for community radio stations and in doing so they ought to consider what was contained in the Information Media Panel of Inquiry report.
Gutu South MP Dr Paul Chimedza (zanu-pf) said BAZ risked to be irrelevant in its quest to regulate broadcasting services as people could stream live in foreign lands to Zimbabwean audiences, making it difficult to regulate them.
Uzumba MP Cde Simba Mudarikwa (zanu-pf) said local broadcasters should strive to provide services to all Zimbabweans or risk “broadcasting to themselves,” as people would migrate to foreign and pirate radio stations that they were able to access.
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