BY WANDILE TSHUMA
The Parliament has called for urgent reforms and funding to unlock the potential of the country’s growing creative and digital content sector, citing its role in economic growth and youth employment.
During a sitting of the National Assembly last week , legislators raised concern that despite Zimbabwe’s “vast creative talent” in film, traditional arts and digital media, the sector remains largely informal, underfunded and poorly integrated into national development plans.
Lawmakers noted that thousands of young Zimbabweans producing content on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are earning livelihoods and promoting the country’s image, yet remain unrecognised as key economic players. This has left them excluded from structured funding, training and social protection systems.
The House also flagged persistent challenges including weak production infrastructure, piracy and the migration of talent, which have limited the growth of local creatives while foreign content continues to dominate the domestic market.
Parliament has now implored the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, working with Treasury, to allocate a dedicated budget for the implementation of the National Cultural and Creative Industries Strategy (2020–2030). Treasury was also urged to capitalise and operationalise the Arts Development Fund to support film and digital content production.
In addition, lawmakers called for the upgrading of community cultural centres into digital production hubs, as well as stronger enforcement of copyright laws and the creation of frameworks to formalise and monetise creative work, particularly for digital content creators.