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Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe and Australia should promote the free flow of information as relations between the two countries deepen, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa has said.
Resultantly, Minister Mutsvangwa invited Australian journalists to come and cover this year’s harmonised elections, as the Second Republic continues on its engagement and re-engagement drive.
President Mnangagwa recently invited interested international observers to come and observe the polls.
Yesterday, Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ms Minoli Tehani Perera, paid a courtesy call on Minister Mutsvangwa and their meeting culminated in various agreements.
Minister Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe was a transparent nation which had nothing to hide before, during and after the polls.
“We have also spoken about the need to bring in Australian journalists into our country, we are a Second Republic and as a Ministry we are open for Australian journalists to come in and see what is happening in our country,” she said.
“This year is a consequential year we have elections and it is important for journalists from Australia to come and see what they have read and heard about Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are naturally peaceful and we continue to promote peace before, during and after the elections.”
Minister Mutsvangwa said Harare was committed to increasing cooperation with Canberra as partners and not as an inferior party. Consequently, she said there was need to counter the bad perception about Zimbabwe in the international community.
“We have spoken about the need for Australian investors to look at Zimbabwe as a partner not as a begging bowl,” Minister Mutsvangwa said.
“We have a lot of minerals, human resources and Australia has a lot of investors. We have seen what Invictus has done in Muzarabani and we are very proud as Zimbabweans that the samples which were taken to Australia have actually confirmed that there is oil in Muzarabani.
“Australian companies need to understand what is happening in Zimbabwe, we know there has been a lot of bad propaganda about Zimbabwe. We have spoken about where we are coming from as a country, where we are today and where we want to go.”
Zimbabwe, said Minister Mutsvangwa, was remaining true to its mantra that it strived to be a friend to all and enemy to none.
She said Government was working on growing the country’s media industry.
“We have had a very progressive discussion centring around what Zimbabwe is doing, especially the Second Republic in terms of making sure that we bring every Zimbabwean on board, the media reforms that we have carried out, the community radio stations that we have licensed which had never happened in the last 42 years and all this is being done under the astute leadership of President Mnangagwa to make sure we leave no one and no place behind,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
“The mantra of our President is we are a friend to all and enemy to none.”
Ambassador Perera said following fruitful deliberations with Government, Australia was looking to exploit arrears of mutual benefit to both countries.
“We talked about the cooperation that is in place between the two countries, but also looked forward to the areas of broader and deeper cooperation between our two countries not just in the space of information media those things are directly relevant, but also in our agriculture sector, science and technology sector, so I look forward to that,” she said.
“It has only been two months for me here in Zimbabwe and I feel very welcomed by the people of Zimbabwe and I thank you very much for that, but I am very much looking forward to the next few years that I am here to really progress our relationships in the most positive and enduring ways.”
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