Ngoni Dapira

THE country’s sole public broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has been warned to refrain from not paying content creators to improve on the quality of content televised.

This was said yesterday (Wednesday) by the Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Nick Mangwana during the official opening of the strategic planning meeting held in Vumba, Mutare  as he demanded for quality and more content in 2026 to justify the mandatory radio licences enforced early this year.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Nick Mangwana.

“By all means ZBC do not go about borrowing content and failing to pay. You have a reputation in the market. The idea of disempowering content creators should cease forthwith. The disempowerment of content creators which actually decimated the content creators cluster is because ZBC was not paying local content creators. I do not know which barter trade you were doing, but people do not pay rent with barter trade, they pay with money even for their equipment, so please pay the content creators,” said the permanent secretary candidly.

Touching on content creation for television he said the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa (ZIFTESA), an educational institution dedicated to training filmmakers and professionals in the film and television industry must be proactive in the digital era. He said ZIFTESA should not just focus on procuring content but more on content production.

“During the digital era that place we call production where our ZIFTESA is ensconced as well as our content department is ensconced, that place should be producing content. In the year 2026 we are looking at a symbiotic relationship between the content department and ZIFTESA. You should have a framework of how you will work because we are going to put money. It’s a Ministerial priority to ensure that ZIFTESA is capacitated,” he said.

The permanent secretary said through the mandatory radio licensing that was enforced, as a Ministry they are expecting to see major changes at ZBC.

“ZBC will now have money to change the reputation of ZBC and ensure that the national vision is curated nicely and delivered to the people. It must take back its space as the go to channel for factual information and verification.”

He added that content creators must also have a studio at the production centre working with ZIFTESA and ZBC must buy the content from them.

“We are having a push back to cut that license fee under the ease of doing business efforts and initiatives so that it is more affordable, but we are refusing this because we believe ZBC needs the money,” said Mangwana as he buttressed on the need for positive results from the funds.

He added that through the revenue sharing policy, ZBC will share part of the licencing fee money with BAZ and Transmedia. “When that trickle down happens, every cent must be accounted for and must be channeled to the correct strategic intent. ZBC you are also very heavy when it comes to personnel. You need to find efficiencies. I do not want people to be retrenched but there are many ways you can go around this,” he said as he left no stone unturned.

Adding, “There is a notion out there that ZBC is a bottomless pit that if you keep on pouring money in it you will never see the difference. That speaks to certain cultures and work practices that should be done away with,” said Mangwana as he urged the new chief executive officer Sugar Chakonda to turn around systems and show his mettle.

ZBC Ceo Sugar Chagonda.

Speaking on the sidelines, the recently appointed ZBC Ceo Sugar Chagonda said they are currently working on market research to take on board the views of their listeners and viewers which will help them in their turnaround strategy at the national broadcaster.

“This workshop gives us the opportunity to locate ourselves in terms of where we are and what we are doing as a national broadcaster. So after this strategy what is left is go and sit down as a national broadcaster and come up with our own strategy then plug into the Ministry’s plans. Indeed as a national broadcaster there is need to transform ourselves in terms of business operations, financially and marketing. We are looking forward to making sure that we create a ZBC that is competent and that will deliver the expectations of the public,” said Chagonda.