Hands off BAZ, Charamba tells Parliament

Thursday, 22 December 2011 00:00
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter

PARLIAMENT has no mandate to discuss or question the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe as this is tantamount to interfering with the Executive, a senior Government official has said.
Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity Mr George Charamba yesterday said the only arms of Government with the mandate to discuss BAZ's actions were the Executive and the Judiciary.
He said Parliament's role ended with the nomination of board members.

Mr Charamba dismissed claims by the Speaker of the House of Assembly Mr Lovemore Moyo that Parliament had played no role in the appointment of the BAZ board.
"Unlike the Zimbabwe Media Commission, BAZ is not a constitutional board. It's a creature of lower law or statute, therefore whatever its perceived shortcomings, it can never amount to an unconstitutional act for that reason," he said.

"BAZ is an instrument for the Executive, its perceived demeanors can never be a matter for Parliament because Parliament created the law a long time ago and their role ended.
"Parliament is trying to swallow its child back into the womb after birth; unfortunately the child has grown too big to be swallowed. If they want to do anything on BAZ, it will create a constitutional crisis because the Executive won't be happy with the interference."

Mr Charamba said BAZ was the only legitimate institution that can invite applications, adjudicate and finally award licences free from Parliament, the ministry and the Judiciary. BAZ enjoyed autonomy.
He said inviting Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu to explain why BAZ qualified and disqualified other applicants would be implying that he sits on the BAZ board when he does not.
Mr Charamba said constitutionally, BAZ is appointed by the President and not the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity.

He said the minister was only there to make recommendations as provided for by the law as amended in the Broadcasting Services Act of 2007.
Mr Charamba said the BAZ board had two membership types, those who represent sectoral interests and those who represent skills.
He said there was supposed to be a chief's representative for the sectoral interests nominated by the Chief's Council.

The conscience industry nominates candidates through the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.
Mr Charamba said nominations also came from competing political interests, which is done through Parliament's Standing Rules and Orders Committee.

He said the SROC was supposed to forward six names to the President, who would in turn appoint three from the list given to him representing all parties' interests.
He said Minister Shamu wrote to Mr Moyo requesting Parliament to forward names of people to sit on the BAZ board as required by law, but the Speaker failed to meet the 30-day deadline.
Failure to submit the names within the set period, Mr Charamba said, allowed Minister Shamu, according to Zimbabwe's laws, to nominate people of his choice assuming that the SROC was in agreement with his nominations.

Despite the delay and the constitutional provision to nominate, Minister Shamu had wai-ted for Parliament to submit the names.
"Mr Moyo then gave the Ministry names after the date expired and those names were of people who failed to make it from the ZMC.

"On the skills side, there is a provision for a lawyer, not to represent legal interests, but to bring legal skills. There is also a nomination for an accountant who in this case does not represent the accounting interests but the skills. The President has also been given power to appoint three," Mr Charamba said.
He said if anyone felt injured by BAZ's actions, they would approach the courts not Parliament.
Mr Charamba said at one point Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara questioned the composition of BAZ during the principals' meeting, creating an impression that the SROC had not taken part in the nomination process.

He said this had created an impression that Minister Shamu and Mr Charamba had unilaterally nominated people without the SROC's input.
"My Minister and I were not in that meeting and basing on what PM Tsvangirai and DPM Mutambara said, the Chief Secretary wrote to my Minister saying it had been brought to the attention of the President that the BAZ board had not been properly constituted and thus it had to be regularised.
"We then went to the President and the Chief Secretary with the documents that showed that indeed SROC had forwarded its nominations which resulted in another meeting being called.
"In that meeting, four items were on the agenda and had to do with BAZ, ZBC, Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust and hate language," he said.

Mr Charamba said PM Tsvangirai raised concerns saying Minister Shamu and Mr Charamba had unilaterally appointed the board.
Minister Shamu produced evidence proving the appointments were above board and the matter was closed.

Mr Charamba said when BAZ called for applications, everyone had expressed happiness that licences were going to be awarded only for other people to turn around and discredit the process.
He said it was strange that people had to wait for so long to complain about the composition of BAZ.
PM Tsvangirai's utterances about BAZ, Mr Charamba said, had resulted in other applicants raising concerns with the processes.

"When you do that, you cease to be a bona-fide complainant, you become a sulking loser. The strange thing is that the complainant wasn't an applicant, but our Prime Minister. He is mourning more than the bereaved.
"In the process, the Prime Minister has instituted legal action against himself because he is part of Government. It is unfortunate that we have a Prime Minister who is in the habit of inviting litigation against himself.
"It is a fact that there were two licences on offer, but there were 16 applicants vying for the two licences. Surely, 14 must lose."

Mr Charamba said the court application by KISS-FM challenging BAZ's adherence to the rules had also complicated BAZ's action plan.
"Now that BAZ has opened other applications, when others are at court, do they apply to be considered in the latest calls for applications or wait for the court processes?
"The other question is; should BAZ proceed to adjudicate and award licences when their adherence to rules is being queried?"
He said the lasting solution to the problems around broadcasting services in Zimbabwe lay with the country moving from analogue to digital.
Analogue, Mr Charamba said, made it difficult for Zimbabwe to have many broadcasting players.
He said migrating from analogue to digital technology would see one frequency allowing more than 20 national radio services.

Mr Charamba said instead of wasting money at the courts, it was important for Government to provide money for Zimbabwe to digitalise its broadcasting services and defy the law of scarcity.

The House of Assembly last week adopted a motion calling for the disbandment of BAZ and the withdrawal of licences awarded to Zimpapers and AB Communications.
However, chief whips from the three parties in the inclusive Government said the adoption of the motion had no legal force.