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Zvamaida Murwira-Senior Reporter
Public hearings on the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill tabled before Parliament last week, started on Monday with Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services consulting interested people.
The Bill seeks to, among other things, make it mandatory for motorists to buy a radio license before buying a vehicle licence and insurance cover, with only those able to show they have no radio in their car being exempted.
The portfolio committee held public hearings in Harare and Marondera on Monday and will be moving on to Mutare, Masvingo, Bulawayo, Bubi and Kwekwe, among other places to gather views.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere tabled the Bill in the National Assembly last Thursday, where it was read for the first time. A first reading just formally puts a Bill on the Parliamentary agenda, with the debate only starting on the second reading. Before then, the relevant Parliamentary committee holds public hearings on the proposed law.
The Bill was formally referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee whose mandate is to scrutinise all Bills and statutory instruments tabled in Parliament to establish if they are consistent with the Constitution.
Monday’s public hearings in Harare were attended by several people from sectors that included the media.
Some of the people who made contributions supported the clause, saying it would go a long way in supporting the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Services as a public broadcaster.
They said supporting the public broadcaster would help it provide quality services, particularly when it airs national events such as burial of national heroes and covering commemorations of national events such as Independence Day.
Others, however, felt that the clause was unjust because it gave ZBC an unfair advantage in competition with the private broadcasters.
Media Alliance of Zimbabwe representative and Zimbabwe Union of Journalist secretary general Perfect Hlongwane said community radio stations should also be subjected to public hearings before issuance of licences to ensure transparency.
In his contribution, veteran broadcaster Robson Mhandu said there was need to consolidate laws governing ZBC, adding that currently the laws governing the public broadcaster were fragmented across several pieces of legislation.
He said while there had been several efforts to capacitate ZBC, there has been no corresponding efforts to review the efforts such as requiring it to declare a dividend arising from the capacitation efforts.
Dr Muswere, who is steering the Bill through Parliament, will give a comprehensive overview about the proposed law at the start of its second reading stage, where he details why the Government wants the legal changes.
Clause 15 of the Bill seeks to insert a new provision which prohibits the sale of a motor insurance cover and vehicle licence disc to persons who do not have ZBC radio licences.
“The Zimbabwe National Road Administration and every motor insurance company shall only issue a motor vehicle licence and motor insurance policy respectively to individuals who either hold a current radio licence issued by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation or a valid exemption certificate from ZBC unless the vehicle to be insured is not equipped with a radio receiver,” reads the clause.
The Bill requires that motorists without a radio receiver sign a declaration form stating that their car does not have a receiver so that they can be granted an exemption.
The Bill also seeks to allow foreign ownership of a broadcasting licence of up to 40 percent of the equity in the holding company, to allow growth and investment in the sector, while retaining final control by Zimbabweans, and in terms of a second clause in the Bill making it clear that the majority ownership must be held by Zimbabwean citizens.
It will also align the Broadcasting Services Act with the Constitution and also with the Public Entities Corporate Governance. The Constitutional alignment makes it clear that the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe is limited to regulating broadcasting services, and in particular assigning frequencies from the limited range, rather than controlling what is broadcast.
“The amendment seeks to allow foreign control in a broadcasting licence up to 40 percent as a measure of encouraging the development of this sector considering that it is a high capital venture and ensure that Zimbabweans remain in control of broadcasting services.
“The amendment also seeks to repeal the requirement for all directors of licensees to be Zimbabwean citizens and places a limitation of 40 percent of the directors to be foreigners. Amendments to Section 8(3) will allow any person other than a natural person to apply for licences such as community radios,” reads the memorandum accompanying the Bill.
Clause Three of the Bill provides that the role of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe is to regulate and manage the broadcasting service bands for sustenance rather than control broadcasting service bands.
“The intention is to move away from a perception that the legislation is intended to stifle the freedoms guaranteed by Section 61 of the Constitution and instead to focus on necessary regulation of the airwaves. This is also in line with current international trends as contained in some international instruments among them, the African Charter on Broadcasting, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” reads the memorandum.
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