Govt spokesperson, Mweetwa, hopeful restructuring of ZNBC will engender independence, transparency

Government says the repealing and replacement of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Act will streamline the corporation from being a state to a public broadcaster.

Chief Government Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, noted that this would also respond to some of the challenges the Corporation had faced overtime.

The Minister said this when the ZNBC Board led by its Chairperson, Joseph Kazhila, paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka on Tuesday morning.

The Minister of Information and Media commended the Board for the visit and the efforts to transform ZNBC into a public broadcaster since it assumed office.

“Once transformed, ZNBC will have an opportunity to enhance transparency and accountability of government operations because it will have an independent editorial policy,” Mweetwa said.

He stated that government was delighted that funds had been set aside in the 2024 national budget for the completion of the provincial studios.

The Minister further urged ZNBC to act as a bridge of truth in the face of increased propaganda and invest more in investigative journalism.

“Government would like to see ZNBC expand its horizons in order to reach a large number of people as its credibility is unquestionable,” Mweetwa emphasized.

Government had started the process of repealing and replacing the ZNBC Act together with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act.

During the same meeting, ZNBC Board Chairperson Kazhila, lamented that the corporation had a huge debt which it needed to dismantle and deal with urgently.

Kazhila said the mountain of debt was one of the major challenges which the corporation was facing apart from other historical challenges.

“Through the efforts of the board, we have prevailed over one of the debts ZNBC had with the National Pensions and Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and we have been paying monthly to the Authority,” he stated.

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