Will Kwese Survive this Second Shutdown Move by BAZ?

Written by Archie Moyo

Just this past weekend we were celebrating the reactivation of Kwese after they won the High Court case against the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ). Bad news comes now when most of us have paid for our installations and are expecting the technites to come set us up for our first-month free subscription. It seems BAZ has appealed the decision by the High Court Ruling and are moving for Kwese to be shut down again.

It seems BAZ wasn’t going to let the ink dry on the ruling (Read the full ruling here)as they approached the High Court on Monday to contest the ruling. In essence what the high court ruled against was the decision by BAZ to cancel the distribution of Kwese while they finalized the position of the Dr. Dish license.

I would normally put this in the conclusion but I am really curious as to why BAZ is fighting Kwese off so hard. If you have any idea or conspiracy theories please share these with us. The government should take advantage of this initiative and allow the broadcasting of Kwese, this goes hand in hand with the promise of 2 million jobs after all. Our cousins who we had lost hope in have found employment installing Kwese dishes and the more demand the more work there is for them and other people. These could help our arts industry step up as well and become more financially viable.

The backstory to the whole issue is that Dr. Dish (who are the license holders and partnered with Econet Media for the distribution of Kwese) initially received their license in 2007 specifically to provide My TV channels. For years Dr. Dish failed to pay its required fees and also failed to provide My Tv ( I know I didn’t get to see them). Fast forward to October 2016 where BAZ approached Dr. Dish and gave notice of their intention to cancel the license as it wasn’t in use.

This year after partnering with Econet Media all the pending fees were paid and BAZ was notified of the desire to bring Kwese Tv channels to Zimbabweans. The money was received by BAZ but they thought “Ah fuck it!” and still cancelled the license.

These are the details of the  appeal:

In the notice of appeal, the lawyers argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction to preside over the case.

“The High Court erred in not finding that its jurisdiction to deal with the application arising from the suspension or cancellation of a licence was ousted by Section 43(1) (e) of the Broadcasting Act,” the lawyers argued.

BAZ also believes that the court erred in finding urgency in a matter that was far from being urgent.

The broadcasting authority contends that the High Court decision allowing Econet Media to operate without a proper amendment of Dr Dish’s licence was improper.
The High Court, BAZ argued, grossly erred in failing to find that Dr Dish had a more efficacious alternative remedy provided in terms of Section 43 of the Broadcasting Act.

To that end, BAZ seeks an order quashing the High Court decision, with costs.

(source: My Zimbabwe News)

The court cases here are less appealing than a rally at an amateur tennis game. We just want to have an affordable and entertaining broadcaster that we can pay for with ease. I’m sure those who have paid for their Kwese installations will be watching with a keen eye. BAZ should honestly be shutting down ZBC which makes me feel like plucking my eyes out whenever I bump into it!

Hey, Check out the rest of Archie’s hilarious and insightful articles on Business Blunders and Brilliance.