Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary, Mr Nick Mangwana, has said achieving Vision 2030 is fundamentally a communication project, stressing the nation must define its own narrative, or it will be defined by external forces.
Mr Mangwana made the pronouncement on Tuesday while presenting on the role of media on national security at the Zimbabwe National Defence University’s media day for students of the National Defence Course.
The event, held under the theme: “The Role of Media on National Security: Telling Your Own Story, Telling it Fully and Telling it on Time”, attracted key players from the media landscape, including the country’s largest integrated media group Zimpapers, the State Broadcaster, ZBC, Jester Media Services, and the regulatory body, the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), among others.
“Achieving Vision 2030 is not just an economic or social project, it is a communication project,” Mr Mangwana said.
“A nation that cannot define itself is defined by others. Telling our own story, telling it fully, and telling it on time is not merely a media slogan-it is a national security imperative. It requires a collaborative effort from the Government, media, and security institutions.”
He described a free and responsible media environment as a key enabler for achieving Vision 2030.
“By fostering a media environment that is both free and responsible, innovative and credible, Zimbabwe can secure its narrative, strengthen its sovereignty and build the unified national consensus required to realise the ambitions of Vision 2030.
“The media plays a critical role in informing the public, setting the narrative, pushing the agenda, which is in the national interest,” he said.
“So therefore, there is no way we can talk about security without the media playing a collaborative partnership with all the members of the security cluster.”
Echoing the call for domestic narrative control, Zimpapers’ acting editorial executive, Mr Elias Mambo, said: “What we are saying here is that we need to take charge of our narratives.
“You go the world over, the Americans will be telling their own story, the British will be telling their own story.
“We must also take charge and tell our own story in our own way, in our own languages. And we are also saying we need to take charge of the digital spaces because that is the new battlefront.”
However, he warned that an unregulated digital space constitutes a serious national security threat, thereby necessitating new measures to regulate digital platforms posing such risks.
