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Harare Bureau
The newly-appointed ZBC board is not made up of angels but individuals who have the requisite skills and experience to rescue the national broadcaster from the problems it is facing, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo has said. Speaking on the sidelines of his tour of Mbira Centre in Harare yesterday, Prof Moyo said the appointment of the new board shows that his ministry is committed to turning around fortunes at the national broadcaster.
Prof Moyo on Monday withdrew Dr Dennis Magaya’s appointment as Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation board chair for his alleged involvement in salary and procurement scandals at national power utility, Zesa.
The ministry had appointed an 11-member board chaired by Dr Magaya (44) to spearhead restructuring and turnaround of the national broadcaster.
Father Gibson Munyoro, a respected Catholic cleric, replaced Dr Magaya.
He said the appointees understand that they are coming into a difficult situation with expectations that they have the capacity, moral and technical capacity to deal with it.
Prof Moyo said the board has highly respected people who have demonstrated skills from the point of view of the technology, the ICT and the financial sides.
He said the board would give policy guidance and represent shareholder interest, while ensuring the organisation discharges its national mandate and stays within its mandate.
Prof Moyo said to achieve this, the broadcaster must have requisite skills and against the background of the digital migration, it should have the necessary technology as pointed out during the visit by the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Broadcasting Services.
Meanwhile, media analysts have welcomed the new Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation board and urged it to practice good corporate governance and ensure the national broadcaster is fully digitalised by 2015.
The experts also commended Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo for ‘swiftly’ withdrawing the appointment of telecommunications entrepreneur Dr Dennis Magaya as the chairman of the national broadcaster.
The board took over from the Dr Cuthbert Dube-led board, which was dissolved for various shortcomings, some of which saw ordinary workers going for seven months without salaries while some executives received mega packages.
Media analyst and Midlands State University lecturer Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri said the major pressing issue at ZBC was digitalisation and to make it commercially viable. Dr Mhiripiri said the new board should restore public confidence in the national broadcaster.
“They have to make ZBC a viable national asset. They should have the spirit to serve the public and produce results that will revamp it,” he said.
Apart from Father Munyoro, other board members are: Dr Ndabezinhle Dlodlo, Ms Phyllis Johnson, Mr Gelfand Kausiyo, Donald Khumalo, Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, Dr Charity Manyeruke, Rudo Mudavanhu, Dr Cleopatra Matanhire-Mutisi and Blessing Rugara.
Dr Dube’s old board included Bob Nyabinde, Ms Doreen Sibanda, Clemence Mabaso, Bishop Trevor Manhanga, Brigadier-General (Retired) Felix Muchemwa, Major-General Gibson Mashingaidze, Farai Mutamangira, Job Jonhera and Engineer Martin Manuhwa.
Online Reporter