Zanu PF run broadcasting authority says no more licences

By Lance Guma

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which is packed with ZANU PF sympathisers, has claimed that they will not issue any more radio licences because the country has exhausted all the six frequencies on its FM broadcasting band.

On Thursday BAZ Chief Executive Officer Obert Muganyura appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technology. Committee chairperson and MDC-T MP for Mbizo, Settlement Chikwinya wanted to know if the authority was going to issue more licences.

“There is no way forward in terms of going beyond the six national stations except for television where there is a chance for more when we migrate from analogue to digital,” Muganyura claimed. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation uses 4 channels and the other two were awarded to pro-ZANU PF stations.

According to Muganyura the licences controversially issued to the ZANU PF controlled Zimpapers’ Talk Radio and AB Communications had completed the national radio services on the FM broadcasting band.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Friday, Chikwinya disputed the claims by Muganyura, saying their information showed that the country had space for 68 radio stations and 51 television stations on analogue. These figures could become ‘limitless’ if the country completed an expected switch to digital.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has in the past said “the regional trend should leave us embarrassed as a country. The DRC has 381 radio stations and 93 television stations. (41 radio stations and 51 television stations in Kinshasa alone!). South Africa has about 1, 000 radio and television stations combined.”

It has always been clear to many that ZANU PF does not want to free the airwaves. The regime which is battling a dwindling support base even in its traditional rural strongholds relies heavily on the media to sustain its aura of invincibility. SW Radio Africa

To contact this journalist e-mail [email protected]