Govt seeks closer collaboration with the media

Gweru (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe government is keen to collaborate closely with the media to ensure that crucial national programmes, including the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) are relayed to the public timeously and accurately, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said this while officially opening a media training workshop on the successes of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and reporting on the National Development Strategy (NDS1) which runs from 2021 to 2025.

“It is my conviction that if the nation is to meaningfully and viably realise its developmental aspirations as enunciated in the National Development Strategy, citizens, families, the corporate sector, local authorities, government departments, other countries that we do business with as well as investors from within and abroad need to understand the course we have chart out in the NDS1.

“People need information to understand what NDS1 is all about so they can participate enthusiastically. The mantra chosen by the Second Republic, ‘Zimbabwe is open for business,’ needs to be made a reality by sharing information that advances the national agenda. Zimbabwe cannot be seen as open for business if there is discord in the messages coming out of Government and our media houses as we will be sending wrong, mixed and confusing signals,” she said.

“This calls for close collaboration between government and the media as well as unity of purpose in the media industry in pursuit of the national interest. It is my wish that sooner rather than later, there shall come a day when there is no reference to public or private press, but there is Zimbabwean press which tows the national flag in pursuit of our common goals.”

Mutsvangwa said, given that the NDS1 and 2 ride on the foundation laid by the TSP, it was important for media houses to understand and unpack what the programme achieved and its linkages with the two development strategies.

She said despite the TSP delivering on most of its set objectives, there was a glaring gap between those achievements and what the media was delivering to the nation, hence the workshop.

“Wherein at some point, prophets of doom and our detractors were predicting an economic meltdown of great proportions, the TSP which invested in development enabling infrastructural sectors such as roads, energy and ICT buttressed by a raft of measures including deliberately working on budget rationalisation, introduction of the Forex Auction System and an assortment of financial sector reforms, the country has stabilised the economy by arresting the hitherto runaway inflation, stabilized prices and brought the much needed macroeconomic stability.

“Unfortunately, as the media, we did not do justice to amplify this fact. It is thus my fervent hope that this workshop which brings the best minds in the industry together, will come up with solid strategies that will see the information sector unpacking these achievements to make a strong case for the scheduled Development Strategies,” she said.

“Colleagues, Zimbabwe is on the rebound, and we are the facilitators and messengers towards that goal. This training workshop gives scope for reorientation, re-calibration and refocusing of our lenses as we zero in on propagating the real Zimbabwean story locally and internationally.”

She said a deep understanding of the NDS1 would equip the media with the best strategies and knowledge to inform the nation and the world on the viability of the strategy.

“As government officials and the media, if we fail to grasp the crux of those matters, herein wither the ordinary men and women who rely on us to interpret such matters, that are of vital importance to nation building,” she said.

New Ziana