President assigns telecommunications to Ministry of Transport

President Robert Mugabe has reportedly assigned the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development with a Department of Communications which will be responsible for telecommunications parastatals and their regulatory bodies.

According to a report in The Herald of 12 April, 2009 the new portfolio which falls under the ministry; now the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development, will be responsible for overseeing operations at the NetOne, TelOne, Zimpost and the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

The ministry falls under Minister Nicholas Goche.

The decision by the President follows the speculation and the lack of clarity between the two information ministries; the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity and Information Communication Technology headed by Ministers Webster Shamu and Nelson Chamisa, respectively.
Before the formation of the unity government, there was only information ministry known as the Ministry of Information and Publicity.

The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda allegedly wrote to the relevant ministers outlining their mandates. Within that communication the Media, Information and Publicity ministry is to work with organizations such as the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, Zimpapers, Kingston’s limited, New ZIANA and the disputed Transmedia, whilst the Information Communication Technology ministry focuses on developing appropriate policies and strategies of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations and spearheading the development of regulatory frameworks that facilitate the development of ICT.

However, Minister Chamisa alleges that the decision to reassign the Department of Communication from his ministry had not yet been communicated to him and had only learnt of it in The Herald report.


Rashweat Mukundu
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring
MISA Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: + 264 61 232 975
Fax:+264 61 248016
Mobile: 00 264 813 675 362
E mail rashweat@misa.org, misaalerts@gmail.com

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