Parly adopts BAZ motion

AB Communications, but party chief whips said its adoption has no legal force.
The motion also called for the dissolution of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.
Mbizo legislator Mr Settlement Chikwinya (MDC-T) moved the motion in Parliament on Tuesday.
He argued that the BAZ board had not been properly constituted because the Standing Rules and Orders Committee had not been consulted.
Mr Chikwinya argued that the granting of licences was illegal as they had been issued by an illegal board.
In separate interviews yesterday, Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC chief whips said the executive was not legally bound to implement recommendations of the legislature.
Zanu-PF chief whip Cde Joram Gumbo said the motion had not been properly brought before the House.
He said procedurally, Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu should have been allowed to respond to some of the allegations and concerns raised during the debate.
“Minister Shamu wrote a letter today indicating that he had other commitments, thus the motion was not supposed to be debated at all,” Cde Gumbo said.
“The Minister is the only one who can appoint or recommend the board and he is the only one who can fire and if he is not involved in the case then it’s of no legal force.”
He said the adoption was invalid and had no effect.
“It is unfortunate that it was debated from a position of ignorance. The passing of that motion was done without proper guidance.”
MDC-T chief whip Mr Innocent Gonese said Parliament was just there to recommend to the executive.
He said the legislature did not have the power to force implementation but urged the executive to consider Parliamentary recommendations seriously.
“The process is not to enforce resolutions in terms of separation of powers but good practice would be for the executive to take some of the recommendations on board. As an arm, we can say what we want, failure by the executive to implement, would be disrespectful of Parliament. It’s not good corporate governance,” he said.
MDC chief whip Mr Edward Mkhosi said the adoption of the motion was just a protest to the executive. Procedurally, he said, Minister Shamu should have been allowed to respond to the motion before its adoption.
“If the process is not followed then there is no legal standing but it raises concerns. This is just a protest, it doesn’t have force,” Mr Mkhosi said.
He said their concern was the appointment of BAZ chairman, Dr Tafataona Mahoso to head the board.
He said Dr Mahoso had failed to impress during the interviews for the Zimbabwe Media Commission thereby making him incompetent to head BAZ.
It also emerged yesterday that the SROC had been involved in the appointment of BAZ board members despite denials by Speaker of the House of Assembly Mr Lovemore Moyo. Mr Moyo wrote a letter to Minister Shamu on July 30, 2009 informing him of the SROC’s intention to conduct interviews for both BAZ and ZMC on August 3, 2009.