Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru– The Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) joined the nation and rest of the world in commemorating World Press Freedom Day and commended government efforts towards licensing of community radio stations.
The World Press Freedom celebrations are commemorated annually on May 3 as efforts to recognize the role and importance of the press in information dissemination across the globe.
In a statement ZACRAS national chairperson Tobias Saratiel said the licensing of the stations was in line with completing the drive of establishing a three tier broadcasting system.
“As ZACRAS, we take the opportunity to acknowledge and commend efforts made by the government of Zimbabwe to license 14 community radio stations in the country as part of the drive to complete the three tier broadcasting system.
“ZACRAS has over the years been advocating for the licensing of community radio stations, which have so far been licensed across the country’s ten provinces with the association working closely with government and other partners to ensure that all radio stations go on air. As part of its mandate, the association is rolling out a series of capacity building programmes that will see licensed community radio stations go on air before the end of the Broadcasting Services Act’s recommended 18 months period and providing the crucial, locally produced developmental news,” said Saratiel.
He further said community radios have played a significant role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic through timely information dissemination.
“Community radio stations have played an important role during the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw some of the stations being part of the government’s Covid-19 provincial taskforces in the process of communicating accurate and relevant information.
“The licensing of community radios will go a long way in promoting access to information and participation by marginalized and under-represented communities in Zimbabwe. As the country continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, ZACRAS remains cognizant of the fact that there are communities which are not regularly accessing relevant information needed to make critical decisions. It remains ZACRAS’ conviction that the existence of community radios in Zimbabwe will greatly assist in local and timely dissemination of information on Covid-19 as has been witnessed in other countries such as India and Ethiopia among others,” he added.
Meanwhile ZACRAS has noted a number of recommendations to be adopted by government in promoting the rights of journalists.
“We thereby note the following recommendations to the government that we obtain full respect of the editorial and programming independence of community radio stations and the use the Community Broadcasting Fund in an equitable manner that will ensure community radio stations benefit.
“We also call for the promotion of foreign investment in broadcasting a situation that will improve the sustainability of community broadcasters,” read some of the recommendations by ZACRAS.
The 2022 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) commemorations are running under the theme ‘Journalism Under Digital Siege.
