Corporate Incest under the Ministry of Information and Publicity

By Levi Mhaka

Published October 18, 2006

The Ministry of Information and Publicity has the following companies/parastatals under it – Zimpapers Ltd, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), New Ziana, Media and Information Commission, Transmedia Ltd and Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).

Justin Mutasa is the new ZBH Board Chairman. He is also the Group CEO of Zimpapers. As a Board Chairman, he oversees the appointment, conditions of service and performance of the ZBH CEO.

When the CEOs of Zimpapers and ZBH are called to meet the line Minister or made to appear before a parliamentary committee, they do so as peers. Yet a fellow CEO is overseeing the appointment, conditions of service and performance of a peer.

Is the Ministry of Information and Publicity short of capable hands to fill in the position of ZBH Board Chairman without necessarily burdening Mr Mutasa, who is also the Chairman of Metropolitan Bank of Zimbabwe Ltd, among other board positions?

We have also witnessed a situation whereby the Herald newspaper Editor, Pikirayi Deketeke, is the Chairman of Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).

The former Executive Chairman of ZBH, Rino Zhuwarara, was also a commissioner with the MIC, which decides the fate of other media houses and journalism practitioners. Call it corporate incest!

It is not good corporate governance practice to have the same people in the various institutions under one ministry. Get a list of board members of the above named institutions and you will be shocked by the cross board membership of people who are senior executives of the other.

On a seaprate note, I am not sure if its the best decision to appoint a 'content' person as a CEO of a media house like what has happened at ZBH, when Henry Muradzikwa has been thrust in the position. They tried it with Rino Zhuwarara. It failed because a content person can not spend his day attending to administrative, logistical and stuctural matters of a company.

If he is the excitable type, he will clash with the Editor-in-Chief of Newsnet and that will be tantamount to undue interference.