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In a statement on Friday, the Zimbabwe Media Commission chairman, Mr Godfrey Majonga, said the allegations stated or implied in by NewsDay were wrong.
“The statements published by NewsDay that the 2011 fees amount to extortion and should be viewed as retributive or punitive, and that the ZMC received significant funding through the Ministry’s vote in the 2011 budget are wrong.
“It is also wrong that the money raised through fees will be used to suppress media freedom in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Majonga.
“First of all, it is important to point out that ZMC is a new commission which requires enough resources to set itself up and either to acquire or rent accommodation.
“However, its budget allocation from Treasury amounts to a total of US$196 000, of which US$176 000 is for operations and US$20 000 for capital expenditure. The operations budget of US$176 000 amounts to less than US$15 000 per month and the US$20 000 capital budget cannot purchase premises for both the Commission and the Media Council, let alone purchase furniture and state of the art equipment,” said Mr Majonga.
He said the US$176 000 operations budget amounts to expenditure of about US$19 000 per commissioner per year, without counting the secretariat.
“If we count the nine commissioners and the 13 councillors of the Media Council, without counting their two separate secretariats, we get a total of 25 commissioners and councillors.
“Therefore the total operations and capital budgets added together amount to an allocation of US$7 840 per person per year, without counting the two secretariats,” said Mr Majonga.
He said the media industry should also look at itself when considering genuine barriers to media access.
“The two-dollar price which readers pay per copy of the Zimbabwe Independent or the Financial Gazette is not a normal price for a weekly newspaper. The one-dollar price, which readers pay per copy of the daily Herald newspaper, is not a normal price.
‘In the country where this currency is issued, two dollars can pay subscriptions for a national newspaper for a whole week. One dollar can pay for several copies of a national daily and what subscribers here pay for a quarter is enough in the United States of America to pay for two years,” said Mr Majonga.
He said in spite of the high prices, the ZMC had not accused publishers of conspiring to deny ordinary citizens access to information.
“Therefore the ZMC has to operate and meet its new mandate within the same economy which still forces some publishers to charge two dollars or one dollar for one copy of a newspaper,” said Mr Majonga.
Online Reporter