Herbert Gonyora

In July 2018, Herbert Goyora was elected to Ward 32 Mutare RDC, for MDC-Alliance, with 1037 votes.

Personal Details

No information could be found on his age, place of birth, or family.

School / Education

No information could be found on his Junior or High School, or any tertiary education.

Service / Career

2018 – elected to Ward 31 Mutare RDC with 1037 votes, beating Josphat Gupa of Zanu-PF with 1013 votes, Jesmail Chitando, independent with 76 votes and Tomson M. Chagwiza of ZIPP with 72 votes. ^[1]

Events

A meeting to celebrate World Radio Day commemorations was held in Mutare in February 2019, organised by the Mutare based Kumakomo Community Radio Station (KCRS) initiative, under the theme, “Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace.” Mayor Blessing Tandi, spoke. Radio to the people is necessary. However, the media should be impartial and put the interests of the community first. As media you should not abuse your powers as well but be apolitical, which is why community radios are important as they are not owned by government or private entities.” Radio serves as a more convenient information sharing platform citing that it was more popular and easily accessible than television because of its wide reach.
The licensing of community radio stations in Zimbabwe is provided for in the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), under a three-tier broadcasting system comprising, public, commercial and community broadcasting. Community radio stations are however still to be licensed and legally recognised in Zimbabwe since the enactment of the BSA in 2001. Currently, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has only licensed national and regional commercial and public radio stations. Successive ministers during the Robert Mugabe era refused to entertain discussions on licensing of community radio stations and maintained a repressive approach to media freedoms, but the new dispensation government has opened up to dialogue after the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Senator Monica Mutsvangwa last year revealed Government’s intentions to amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and Broadcasting Services Act to accommodate the licensing of community radio stations among many other media reforms. In February 2019, Cabinet repealed AIPPA to align laws to the Constitution. The repeal of AIPPA will give rise to three legal instruments - the Access to Information Bill, the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill and the Protection of Personal Information/Data Protection Bill.
KCRS coordinator Trevor Mtisi said since they acquired their deed of trust in 2006 they have been pushing for licensing but sadly can only operate through social media platforms, production of CDs with educative programmes and community outreach programmes. According to the independent media advocacy watchdog, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe, community radio stations are a necessity and the best medium that can promote culture and ethnic languages of marginalised communities. Zimunya’s Ward 32 councillor Herbert Gonyora encouraged communities to support community radio initiatives citing how they helped his ward to mainstream developmental issues and constructively debate on them. He also urged government to strongly consider licensing of community radio stations. ^[2]