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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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afrol.com, 6 October - Armed Zimbabwean police on the night of October 4 located and raided the studios of private broadcaster, Capitol Radio, at Harare's Monomotapa Hotel. Capital Radio had been broadcasting since September 28 in the absence of any broadcasting regulatory framework and following a Supreme Court ruling on September 22 which nullified the state's broadcasting monopoly. The raid was conducted despite Capitol Radio's interdict barring the police from confiscating the station's equipment until 4:30pm on October 5. Capital Radio successfully applied for an interdict barring Minister of State for Information Jonathon Moyo, the Director of the Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) and the Commissioner of Police, from either interfering with the operations or confiscating their equipment. This was in anticipation of a police raid on the premises. The Ministry of Information and Publicity, on the other hand, applied for an order barring the station from operating. The police officer leading the raid, Assistant Commissioner Libberman Ndlovu, said he was not bothered by the station's interdict, contending that he had been ordered by Minister Moyo to dismantle and confiscate the equipment. He led about 10 police officers, four armed with AK47 rifles, and three PTC engineers. Police reportedly also raided the homes of two of the station's shareholders - Gerry Jackson and Mike Auret (Junior) - the Harare home of the former owner of the radio station, Brian Latham, and the Bulawayo home of another shareholder, David Coltart. The raids were reportedly also in defiance of a court order which suspended the search warrants authorising these raids until October 5. Capital Radio has been off air since the police raid. However, another private radio station, which also began broadcasting last week, remains on air on FM 100. At this stage it is not clear what was confiscated in the various raids. Meanwhile, the "Herald" newspaper reports that President Robert Mugabe on October 4 signed temporary legislation to regulate public radio and television broadcasting. The new law was enacted under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act and is known as the Broadcasting Regulations 2000 Authority of Zimbabwe. The new law applies to the following services, all of which, unless owned by ZBC, will require a licence from the Minister of State - commercial broadcasting service, community broadcasting service, subscription satellite broadcasting service, narrowcasting, datacasting, roadcasting and railcasting services. Under the legislation, the Minister of State for information and Publicity in the President's Office has the final authority to issue broadcasting licenses. A Broadcasting Authority will recommend whether licenses are to be issued or denied and it is the Minister who will do the actual issuing or refusing. Anyone broadcasting or operating of a transmitter without a licence can be fined up to Zim$5million or jailed for up to two years. Likewise anyone operating unapproved equipment will be fined up to Zim$1million or two years in jail and the equipment will be liable to confiscation. The composition of the Broadcasting Authority shall comprise five to nine members appointed by the Minister after consulting the President. The Minister has to ensure that the members are representative of groups or sectors of the community. Among its many functions, the authority will set the standards for broadcasting, ensure cultural diversity and ensure that broadcasting reflects a sense of Zimbabwean identity. The authority will prepare codes of conduct to promote accuracy, balance, completeness and fairness in news, current affairs programmes and safeguard national security. However, even with a code of conduct, the authority can set its own standards if it is satisfied that the code is not working or is silent on matters of concern. In addition, the authority will have technical functions to plan for frequencies and other technical matters. According to the "Herald" report, the regulations were modelled along the lines of similar laws in Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and South Africa. The new broadcasting regulations come in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on September 22, which effectively nullified the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's monopoly over the airwaves. Following the ruling, government contended that no broadcaster would be allowed to operate until government established a regulatory authority to provide an operational framework for new broadcasters. However, Capitol Radio began broadcasting on September 28, saying it was empowered to do in so in terms of the Supreme Court ruling.
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