By Lance Guma
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba has bizarrely claimed that solar-powered and wind-up shortwave radios are being ‘smuggled’ into Zimbabwe ‘to effect regime change.’
Charamba was responding to reports that police and other security agents had gone door to door in Lupane on Tuesday and confiscated wind-up and solar-powered radios from several homesteads at Mpofu Village in the Gwampa area.
An embarrassed Charamba first feigned ignorance and claimed the government had opened investigations into the matter. He however immediately confirmed their motives after claiming the radios were imported to effect regime change.
A total of 10 villagers are reported to have had their radios taken away by a group of state agents who were carrying a list of names of people believed to be in possession of the radios. Those who refused were threatened with abduction.
Only two weeks ago police raided the offices of Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo and confiscated 180 radios. They also arrested the managing editor, Zenzele Ndebele, whom they charged with smuggling the radios into the country.
It’s thought many Zimbabweans are shunning the very often stale and pro-Zanu PF broadcasts by the state owned but Zanu PF controlled ZBC radio and opting instead to listen to external radio stations like SW Radio Africa, Studio 7 and Radio VOP.
Mugabe’s regime has been accused of hypocrisy for branding the stations ‘pirate’ radios even though Zanu PF itself ran Radio Zimbabwe from Mozambique during the liberation war against white minority rule.
