WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Stanley Simataa, said accountability would be central to the success of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last Thursday between Namibia and Zimbabwe.
He inked the MoU with his counterpart Monica Mutsvangwa, the Zimbabwe Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting.
The agreement covers a range of issues, including information sharing between the two ministries, enabling them to exchange personnel, cooperation between the various entities such as Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency and the Namibia Press Agency. Cooperation between the two neighbours’ national broadcasters, Namibian Broadcasting Corporation and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, is also contained in the MoU.
The minister remarked that the two nations have given themselves a timeframe to make sure the agreement they signed will materialise with a clear action plan in place.
“Each of these activities will be tasked to responsible officials and institutions to develop action plans with timelines, so we don’t leave implementation to chance because this is where the mistake comes in,’’ he explained.
He further said it would only be through the implementation that both parties will get utility from all the agreements signed.
People will be held accountable from now on, as the time for sermons has passed, the Namibian minister said.
“Officials like saying we will do, we will do, in perpetuity but never deliver. So this is what we are going to do to ensure that we manage the results from the MoU we’ve signed,” Simataa said.
During his state visit to Namibia last week, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa urged timely and diligent implementation of the agreements signed between the two countries. He said the volume of trade and economic cooperation must increase as there are vast prospects in this regard for both countries.
Namibia and Zimbabwe signed several memoranda of understanding and agreements. Areas of cooperation include trade and economic development; promotion of small and medium enterprises; information, media and broadcasting; science and technology development; cooperation between Kavango East Region and Mashonaland West Province; and revenue authority and customs excise.