Government is now reaching out for the media to support Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), with a training workshop for the scribes being held in Gweru.
Speaking during the workshop today, Information and Publicity Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the government is meeting with colleagues in the media industry from across the board to strategise on how best to inform the nation on the NDS1.
“Colleagues in Government and the media industry, 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,” she said.
“People need information to understand what NDS is all about so they can participate enthusiastically.”
Mutsvangwa also explained the need for close collaboration between the Government and the media industry in pursuit of national interest.
“We are obliged as Government working with the media to ensure that the nation moves in unison as one entity, such that at the end of the day everyone plays their role in ensuring that this national goal is realised,” she said.
“That national responsibility or rather obligation to ensure that there is a shared national vision for the common good of everyone lies squarely on the shoulders of those that are gathered here.’
“Government is the main source of the information of where the nation is going meanwhile the Media with your communication capacity and capabilities, you have the platforms and skills to inform and galvanize the nation to that end,” went on Mutsvangwa.
Media’s role in informing the nation in Zimbabwe has however faced challenges with journalists being arrested on duty.
Prominent journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, who has been deemed an activist by the public media, was detained after reporting on corruption through a Twitter account.
The media as a watchdog also monitors the running of the nation by exposing excesses and corruption and holding those in power accountable.
