I will be a minister of all media houses – says Information minister Muswere

By Reason Razao | Senior Reporter

Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Jenfan Muswere has pledged to liberalize the operations of the media sector while promising a raft of measures that will include infringed private players.

Speaking soon after taking his oath for office, Muswere said his ministry will work to ensure that rights to freedom of the media and freedom of access to information as enshrined in the constitution are upheld.

Muswere who is taking over from Monica Mutsvangwa faces a mammoth of mending the fractured relations between the privately owned media and the State.

“I want to assure you that I will be a minister of all media houses given the diversity,” said Muswere.

“We are mainly focused on nation building, we are mainly focused on ensuring that we have an informed society which is beneficial to President Mnangagwa’s vision 2030.

“In that a knowledgeable society with the requisite information is beneficial to nation building so it will be more and more in terms of sharpening of strategic thinking in terms of the transformation of the media sector given the reality that in the context of the fourth industrial revolution you now have other social media platforms.”

Muswere said there is a need to regularize media operations on social media given that more than eight million Zimbabweans now rely on social media for news and credible information.

“There will be a lot of diversity in terms of our approach, in terms of moving away, in terms of collaboration and cooperation and also in terms of fusing the mainstream media and social media platform as we seek to ensure that we inform each and every citizen of this country.

“There will also be infrastructure development across the country and at the same time a shared responsibility across all media houses as we seek to ensure that we unite the people of Zimbabwe,” the minister said.