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Harare Bureau
Canadian ambassador to Zimbabwe Lisa Stadelbauer lauded the government for tackling corruption in the public sector, saying the move may see a positive improvement in bilateral relations between Harare and Ottawa. Speaking after meeting Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo at his Munhumutapa Offices yesterday, Ambassador Stadelbauer said she was following government’s actions on corruption with keen interest.

“We were watching the actions of the new government,” she said.
“I think actions of the government to tackle corruption are very positive and we look forward to seeing more things being done. Certainly implementation of the Constitution is one thing that we are looking at very closely.”

Ambassador Stadelbauer said she discussed with Prof Moyo several issues relating to media operations in Zimbabwe.
Our Harare Bureau is reliably informed that Ambassador Stadelbauer was interested to know media developments under the Zanu-PF government.
Sources privy with the details of that meeting said she also wanted to know how some laws that had a bearing on media operations were going to be aligned with the new Constitution.

“The meeting was at her request. Her interest was to know the perspective of the development of the media in view of the fact that it is now a Zanu-PF government,” said the source.

“She was interested to know how things are going to turn out, particularly for example, the laws like AIPPA that we have in place. The Minister mentioned to her that what is important is that we now have the new Constitution, so laws that have to be changed will be changed.”

Prof Moyo, the source said, highlighted that alignment of existing laws with the new Constitution was not insurmountable.
The challenge according to Prof Moyo, the source said, was one of dealing with the new laws that had to go through Parliament in order to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitution.

With regards to AIPPA, the source said Prof Moyo mentioned some specific sections that needed attention.
Ambassador Stadelbauer enquired how government would deal with media reforms, to which Prof Moyo indicated that his Ministry had already established a special panel of inquiry called Information Media Panel that would consult stakeholders on the reforms and proffer some recommendations.

A discussion on new media also took centre stage during the meeting, but Prof Moyo drew a line between trained journalists and online bloggers.
The source said Ambassador Stadelbauer asked why government seemed to be reluctant to license more radio stations.

“The Minister pointed that there were limitations to the broadcasting spectrum allocated by the International Telecommunication Union although that spectrum can multiply itself under the digitalisation era,” said the source.

On the business side, the source said Prof Moyo said it had to make sense to be in broadcasting.
“The Minister drew the example of the United States of America itself to say up until probably the last two decades or so, it had only three main national broadcasters,” said the source.

Some of the issues that came under discussion included the harmonised elections held last year and illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Canada.