By Lance Guma
HARARE- Zimpapers Talk Radio, one of the two radio stations controversially awarded a broadcast licence last year, is set to be on air by the end of next month according to group chief executive Justin Mutasa.
Mutasa said this while assessing work being carried out at the studios and offices near Mbare in Harare. Also present was ZANU PF MP and Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu, along with the project architect Daniel Mandishona.
Mutasa said: “We are confident we will meet the March 31 target. We are putting final touches on the equipment and the rest of it will be in the country soon. Some of our guys are out of the country working on this and everything will be digitalised to keep with the latest trends in the broadcasting technology.”
Given the location of the station in Mbare, and that it is owned by Zimpapers, a company that runs ZANU PF controlled newspapers, the new station is already being nicknamed Chipangano Radio, after the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang behind incidents of political violence and extortion in Mbare.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) “maintains that the awarding of broadcasting licenses to Zimpapers’ Talk Radio and AB Communications was not a milestone in diversifying the media environment in Zimbabwe, but a major setback.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, ZACRAS said: “When the nation called for media diversity and plurality, they meant having different voices in the media industry. Awarding licenses to organisations believed to have ties to ZANU-PF is to give the nation a dosage of the same old voice.”
ZACRAS said Zimpapers dominates the print media and, “is infamous for praise singing ZANU-PF. It is most likely that similar to Zimpapers print media publications, Talk Radio will be singing from the same hymn book in a bid to amplify ZANU-PF propaganda.”
ZACRAS called for the licensing of community radio stations to widen access to information and promote freedom of expression. “The licensing of community radios will offer communities platforms to engage in public debate, irrespective of their educational level, social standing or language,” the group said.
On the 8th February Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputy Arthur Mutambara met Mugabe at State House for two and half hours, and one of the key issues discussed was the broadcasting authority. Tsvangirai and Mutambara later issued a statement in which they said it had been agreed among other things that Minister Shamu must;
“Immediately implement the Principals’ directive to reconstitute the boards of ZBC, Mass Media Trust and the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe in line with the agreed formulae. The licenses already issued by the illegally constituted BAZ board should be revoked forthwith.”
But it seems clear from the fact that Zimpapers Talk Radio is going ahead, that the coalition government is dysfunctional and that Tsvangirai and Mutambara have no power to implement any changes.
Gift Mambipiri, who chairs ZACRAS, told SW Radio Africa that ZANU PF wanted to show its coalition partners that they were ‘lame ducks’ in the government. SW Radio Africa