Exiles seek to resurrect Radio Mthwakazi

Exiles seek to resurrect Radio Mthwakazi
Saturday, 27 February 2010 17:24

CAPE TOWN — Zimbabwean exiles, fed up with the government’s delays in deregulating broadcasting laws, have applied to the Independent Communications Authority South Africa — ICASA — for a licence to set up a community radio station in Johannesburg. The station to be known as Radio Mthwakazi, will broadcast in IsiNdebele, Kalanga and Sotho for the first few months and then other languages when they eventually get a licence to operate in Zimbabwe.


“We might include Shona language in the future but for now we want to cater for languages that are marginalised in Zimbabwe,” Gerald Ngulube told The Standard by phone from Johannesburg.


The original Radio Mthwakazi which was set up by the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation for the Ndebele-speaking community in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the 1970s was shut down by the Zanu PF government in 1981.

The closure of the station sparked protests by the people of Matabeleland who described the government’s move as “both political and ethnic cleansing”.


“We have already approached ICASA for a licence but the area where we wanted to broadcast had already been taken by a Johannesburg community radio, said Ngulube, who is also the chairman of Umthombo Arts and Culture, an organisation for Zimbabwean artists based in Johannesburg.


Ngulube said the other option left for them was to apply to broadcast in the Gauteng Province. ICASA had allocated them FM frequency in Rooderport, outside Johannesburg but they turned down the offer saying there were fewer Zimbabweans in the area.


Ngulube said their main target audience was Zimbabweans in Hillbrow, Berea, Yeoville and South Western Townships — commonly known as Soweto. The government is aware of the emergence of foreign radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe.


Some of the radio stations are funded by President Robert Mugabe’s enemies in the West. Private radio stations broadcasting from their exiled bases and targeting Zimbabwe have been a cause for concern for Zanu PF.


The party has been calling on its partner in the inclusive government, the MDC-T to help shut down the foreign based stations.


Two of them SW Radio Africa and Voice of the People started in Zimbabwe but they were forced to relocate to other countries after they were denied licences.



By Thabo Kunene