The main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere, has chided state broadcaster ZBC for its failure to give her party airtime, urging the public broadcaster to give space to the opposition, ahead of the crunch 2023 general elections.
Mahere said the state broadcaster should also report on CCC leader Nelson Chamisa, rather than just focusing on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.
She reminded ZBC that every citizen pays taxes and licences, from which the public broadcaster draws much of its funding.
She said this yesterday while addressing journalists who were gathered for the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) press club discussion in Harare.
“We need Chamisa to be heard on ZBC. Chamisa won various by-elections, and we didn’t hear that. It’s only Zanu Pf, which is on the air, but when they want licenses, they want it from everyone, so every citizen should be aired on ZBC,” she said.
Director of Harare Residents Trust, Mr. Precious Shumba, concurred with Mahere.
“We want to know what is happening to the state broadcaster, where Mnangagwa and his wife are always aired. We also want to see other political parties. The Harare Mayor must be aired on ZBC talking about the problems faced by Harare residents, because I don’t think Harare belongs to one political party,” he said.
The antagonistic relationship between State media and the opposition led Chamisa’s party to issue a temporary ban on ZBC from the party’s functions.
Recently, political analyst Richard Mahomva urged the opposition to ignore State media and focus on private media which fully covers the opposition’s activities.
