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Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
People in Gwanda on Friday told the Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) that most rural communities were in the dark about happenings in the country because of lack of access to information with school children being hardest hit, resulting in them performing dismally in public examinations.
Participants at an IMPI public hearing held at Jahunda Community Hall in Gwanda Town said that most of them suffered from lack of information and were “in the dark” about happenings in the country while their areas were also hardly covered by reporters.
Celani Sibanda, a teacher at a rural school bemoaned lack of information to the rural populace especially school-going children saying they were disadvantaged compared to their urban counterparts who had easier access to the media such as newspapers, television and radio.
“As a teacher in the rural areas, I have observed that our rural school children don’t have easy access to information like their colleagues in the urban areas yet we are preparing them for the same examinations. This might be the reason why our children perform dismally in their final examinations,” he said.
Sibanda said most rural pupils were clueless about the media and most did not know even a single Zimbabwean publication.
“We are therefore appealing to you that you attend to that problem and ensure that newspapers and other media products reach rural communities so that information gets to them as well because there is a lot of ignorance there,” he said.
Participants said others had to travel long distances to Gwanda Town just to be informed about current affairs.
Some areas are completely without radio and television signals.
“Some of our people are still living in the ancient world. If you go deep in the rural areas you find that there are no radio and television signals and at the same time no telephone networks. That is disastrous for people living in a modern world and something should be done.
“Here in Gwanda Town we have challenges when it rains or it’s windy as the transmitter continuously breaks down and it takes the ZBC guys up to three days for the problem to be attended to,” said a Cde Zulu.
It is Transmedia’s responsibility to attend to transmission issues, not ZBC.
The panel heard that some people were only knowledgeable with current affairs of neighbouring countries.
“In Beitbridge, we don’t know what ZBC is. We only know the camera persons and their vehicle when they come to cover events and that’s it. We also want the media to emphasise more on our culture,” said one Mudau.
Participants called on the media to focus more on reportage of developmental issues than politics.
“It has become a tradition for the media to report on politics ignoring critical issues of development. Developmental issues should be taken seriously,” said politician Petros Mukwena.
Ward 9 councillor Thulani Moyo accused the media for becoming a tool of dividing people instead of promoting unity.
“I am even shy to let my children read some of the newspapers because ezinye izinto eziphumayo ziyayangisa,” he said.
Some said the use of indigenous languages in line with the new constitution should be included in the media.
IMPI chairman Geoffrey Nyarota expressed gratitude over the contributions made by the Gwanda community saying all their concerns had been noted and would be submitted to the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services.
Online Reporter