STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES  HONORABLE MONICA MUTSVANGWA (SEN),  ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2021 WORLD RADIO DAY COMMEMORATIONS, 13 FEBRUARY 2021 Fellow Zimbabweans, the country joins the rest of the region, continent and indeed the globe in celebrating World Radio Day (WRD) 2021. The event is being celebrated against a backdrop of incessant disasters plaguing the world and the country. The scourge of Covid-19 is upon us in which worldwide, 1.4m people have succumbed to the disease, whilst nationally more than 1400 lives have been lost. May their dear souls rest in internal peace. It is only as recent as 2019 that Zimbabwe and other countries in the region were devastated by Cyclone Idai. Lives were lost, livelihoods and infrastructure were destroyed and the region is yet to fully recover from the carnage. Whilst we are grateful to the Lord for the rains that have come in abundance this year as the countryside has indeed been transformed into a greenbelt, the incessant rains coupled with Cyclone Charlene once more wreaked havoc in some parts of the country. In such disaster situations, media plays a pivotal disaster management public service especially in broadcasting alerts, warnings and advisories. Media can also play a helpful role in supplying needed information to decision makers as well as supplying information and directions to the affected public. I want to take this opportunity to thank our media for rising up to the challenge both during cyclone Idai as well as during the Covid19 pandemic. Media played a critical role in helping Zimbabweans to cope with the calamities that have hit the nation in recent times. Media played this vital role despite facing many operational challenges that included not being adequately prepared and equipped to operate in such life threating circumstances. The nation is most grateful and I urge you to continue playing this critical role of serving the nation. You are indeed our heroes and we remain indebted. Notwithstanding the mishaps that have befallen us as a nation in recent times, Zimbabwe has to move ahead. We all yearn for a better Zimbabwe. The nation needs to be galvanized towards national prosperity. To that end, His Excellency, the President, Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa espoused Vision 2030 which aims at making Zimbabwe an upper middle-income society by 2030. The roadmap towards this vision 2030 was the Transitional Stabilization Programme (TSP) which ran from 2019 to 2020, the five-year National Development Strategy (NDS) 1 running from 2021 to 2025 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) 2 running from 2026 to 2030. Despite the challenges Zimbabwe was facing as a result of repeated droughts, the effects of the illegal sanctions and later on the Covid19 pandemic, the TSP was to a large extent a great success laying out a firm foundation for the rolling out of NDS 1 and 2. Media has an important role to inform the nation to ensure the success of our national vision. The National Development Strategy needs to be unpac