LOVEMORE MOYO . . . Speaker of Parliament

HARARE – War veteran and Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, is on a list of 12 people nominated to sit on a new commission that will oversee the Press in the country, Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said Tuesday.

Mutsvangwa, a well-known President Robert Mugabe loyalist and part of the thinking side of the veteran leader’s ZANU PF party, was not on the original list of nominees made public about two weeks but Moyo – in charge of nomination of candidates – yesterday said that widely reported list was in fact not the official one.

“The list that was published by journalists soon after the interviews was not the official one,” sad Moyo, who never bothered to set the record straight when that list in question was widely publicised by local newspapers and by online news sites.

Moyo said: “What happened was that there were two lists, one from the panel of human resources experts and another from Members of Parliament.

“From both lists, there were nine candidates who had made it and the three remaining candidates had to come up after discussions and collations. That is when Chris Mutsvangwa’s name ended up in the list of the final 12.” 

Mugabe is going to pick nine people from the list submitted to him by Parliament to constitute the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) that will oversee the print media, replacing a defunct Media and Information Commission that during its time oversaw closure of four newspapers and instigated the arrest of scores of journalists.

He will pick three people from another list of six nominees handed him by Parliament to make up the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe that will oversee the electronic media.

A capable and committed ZANU PF cadre and a veteran of the media after managing the government’s Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation in the 90s, chances are high that Mugabe will pick Mutsvangwa to head ZMC that is set to have the biggest say to what extent the media shall be set free after years of strict government controls.

It was not immediately clear whether with Mutsvangwa’s inclusion ZANU PF was now fully in support of the process of selecting candidates for ZMC and other proposed commissions.

Mugabe’s party had complained bitterly and appeared determined to scuttle the nomination process after Mutsvangwa and several of its allies failed to make it to the final list first released more than a week ago – the list that Moyo has now rejected.

ZANU PF had alleged that the panel that interviewed candidates was biased against candidates perceived to be sympathisers of the party. Mugabe’s party also alleged that the panel favoured candidates with links to Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s MDC party.

Other ZMC candidates are human rights lawyer Chris Mhike, Lawson Hikwa, journalism lecturer Nqobile Nyathi, Mathew Takaona, Miriam Madziwa, Henry Muradzikwa, Godfrey Majonga and Wabata Munodawafa, academic Rino Zhuwarara, pastor Useni Sibanda and banker Millicent Mombeshora.

Nominated to join BAZ were academic Vimbai Chivaura, publisher Benson Ntini, Godfrey Chada, Clemence Mabaso, former ZBC executive Susan Makore and former ZANU PF legislator Kindness Paradza.

The ZMC is part of several commissions to be formed by Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government as part of a raft of reforms meant to reshape and democratize Zimbabwe’s politics.

The other commissions provided for under Constitutional Amendment Number 19 that established the power-sharing government are the Independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (IZEC), Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).

Once the commissions and a new constitution are in place the government will call fresh elections with the whole process that began in February expected to last between 18 to 24 months.

Rich Western nations have refused to back the Harare government or lift visa and financial sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle seven years ago, saying they were not happy with the slow pace of political reforms. – ZimOnline