DURING the colonial era, Mobile Film Unit productions like Tiki were popular in war-torn rural areas and urban African locations.
These were shown to the public for free under the auspice of the Information Ministry’s production unit.
The name Tiki came from the smallest coin in the Rhodesian currency family.
The films had black actors and African voice-overs while the script was crafted by the colonial ‘masters’ and the whole idea of having a character called Tiki was to demean the African personality and voice.
This would be through the instrumentality of a non-African perspective pushed by script writers who were all white or Africans who pushed white interests.
Tiki therefore became a metaphor of the downgrading of the African personality and perspective but using the African figure and voice.
It is against this background that the 12 new channels to be launched by the end of the year will broadcast content that will inculcate national values and the liberation ethos vital to the Zimbabwean viewer.
In an interview, Permanent Secretary for Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Cde George Charamba said the programmes must have a national perspective.
“We anticipate 12 channels, six of which will be under the national broadcaster which is the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and another six which will be private.
“The channels will be high definition which is the ultimate level for now.
“We took a decision to repose six channels with the national broadcaster precisely because it is our public broadcaster hence it is required to ensure that it must have a breadth of coverage which ensures that it takes on board the sum total of opinion or at least the dominant thoughts that make up a society,” said Cde Charamba.
He added that the broadcaster would push programmes that interpret the national question in a way that upholds national values, national character, national history and identity.
Cde Charamba said emphasis would be placed on things such as land, which is the bedrock for development.
“The land must be kept (sacrosanct) in Zimbabwe because of the peculiar history that we have had, bearing in mind that (being a) national asset, it must stay in the hands of the rightful owners, in this case the Zimbabwean people.
“We should ensure there is that irreversibility of the transfer of this national asset into indigenous hands.”
He added that programmes should cherish the finite natural and national resources that must be exploited for the benefit of the people.
He reiterated that the issue of national security and sovereignty would not be compromised and those found wanting would be denied access to the television platform.
“We want to ensure that our country does not go into servitude, which means that we cannot allow a type of politics that will take us back to colonialism in whatever form.
“We must ensure that the sovereignty of Zimbabwe, its borders and territorial integrity is defended and secured against any hostile force that may come from which ever quarter.
“Our viewers must be assured of their security.”
Cde Charamba said breakaway politics which presently threatened many nations should be buffeted through the promotion of national unity by the national broadcaster.
“ZBC should also defend national unity since the biggest threat to states in the African context comes from breakaway politics, where the notion of the nation falls to narrow parochial interests like regionalism and tribalism. We cannot, as a country, retreat from the larger polity which is the nation state of Zimbabwe.
“The decision to allocate six channels to the national broadcaster is our own way of ensuring that the national ethos, values and programmes are well secured; where we have one discordant voice from the six private broadcasters there will be six channels to combat it,” said Cde Charamba.
He said the 12 channels will contribute to the efforts of decolonisation by driving the local agenda, the native voice, native image and native perspective.
The views or voices that must play out on those channels are expected to be local and represent local thinking.
Seventy-five percent of the content on the new channels will be Zimbabwean or African content.
To ensure that the content is in line with what the Ministry seeks to achieve, funding of content production will be done through the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).
“BAZ will fund the process of content production for all the channels for the Zimbabwean viewer.
“BAZ is under instructions to fund Zimbabweans who have a national perspective intent on expressing themselves on dramatising their own culture through broadcast media.
“Anything that educates, informs and entertains Zimbabwe is worth sponsoring through public funds,” added Cde Charamba.
Before unveiling funds, production houses will be trained by the Information Ministry and the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa (ZIFTESSA) and so far workshops for the inculcation of national values have been held in Chiredzi, Masvingo and Mutare, among other towns and cities.
Cde Charamba said worldwide, the broadcast media is regulated and measures are put in place to ensure that a country’s moral standards, values, national interests, and national politics are upheld.
“We will never get to a point where we seek to protect this concept called democracy, in the process destroying the very country within which that democracy must express itself.
“As a Ministry, we have a vision to have many production houses and hope that even the print media will have production houses and eventually become an exporter of content like Ghana, India and Nigeria.
“When we export that content into the world, the Zimbabwean viewpoint, culture and way of doing things will be known by all,” said Cde Charamba.