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29 July, 2010 04:57:00 by

Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) chairman Godfrey Majonga

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THE Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) has granted licences to four new media houses, its chairperson Godfrey Majonga said.

The registration comes two months after the new media watchdog issued licences to three daily newspapers -- The NewsDay, The Daily News and The Daily Gazette.

The Daily News and The Daily Gazette are sitting on their licences, and have not issued any public statements on when they will begin publication, while NewsDay is already publishing.

Majonga said the newly-licenced publishers are Cable News Agency, which will operate a news agency; Berimark Enterprises, which will publish a monthly entertainment and celebrity magazine called Zimceleb; Feyjay Investments who will publish a weekly sports magazine called Sport/24 and African Open Media Initiative that will run another news agency.

The ZMC chairperson said all the organisations would be based in Harare except Cable News Agency whose base is Gweru.

Majonga gave a warning to licensed media houses that are not yet operating.

He said: “According to Section 71(c) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Commission can cancel or suspend a registration certificate if a mass media service is unable to publish any mass media products within twenty-four months from the date of registration.

“We hope that those issued with registration license will be able to publish their mass media products very soon.”

The ZMC is an independent commission created early this year as one of the four new Constitutional Commissions. It took over the media licensing responsibility from repressive agencies installed by President Robert Mugabe that sought to limit independent reporting in Zimbabwe by closing down free voices such as the 'Daily News'.

During the last decade, all independent daily newspapers in Zimbabwe were forcedly closed down. Only a few independent Sunday weeklies were let alive, but limited into a low circulation by a controlled access to paper. During the last few years, only the strongly oppositional 'Zimbabwean', edited and printed abroad and distributed in Zimbabwe, managed to reach a larger readership on a weekly basis.

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