Gwanda community radio set to go live

Ntepe-Manama Community Radio in Gwanda District is set to be the first community radio station in Matabeleland region to go on air as Government has already acquired broadcast equipment for it.

Seven community radio stations were licensed in Matabeleland region and these are: Radio Bukalanga (Pvt) Ltd (Bulilima), Matobo Community Radio Trust (Maphisa, Mangwe, Brunapeg) and Twasumbuka Community Radio Trust (Binga, Kamativi, Siabuwa), Mbembesi Development Trust, trading as Ingqanga FM; Shashe Community Radio Broadcasting Association and Lyeja- Nyayi Development Trust.

Ntepe-Manama Community Radio Station is situated in Manama, Gwanda District.

The Government says radio is an important tool for development and wants voices in the periphery to be heard.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Paradza said Ntepe-Manama Radio Station is expected to produce 90 percent of its content in Sotho.

He was speaking in Manama, Gwanda, Matabeleland South yesterday where he was touring the Ntepe-Manama Community Radio studio to assess its readiness for operation.

He said the station should be the second station to go on air after Avuxeni Community Radio Station situated in Chiredzi, Masvingo, started broadcasting last month.

"Your equipment is in Harare and as soon as you finish the renovations, the engineers that I brought here will see your infrastructure, your studios and they will be working with you from now onwards to make sure that you go on air.

"According to your deadline, you were given 18 months to be on air and your deadline is going to be on September 4. So, you must be on air before the 4th of September.

"Failure to do that we will take the license and give it to other people. We expect you to be the second community radio station to be on air after Avuxeni. So, you must work hard and ensure you are on air. That is why the Minister (Monica Mutsvangwa) is there to assist you."

Deputy Minister Paradza said if the community radio station succeeds, Government will issue the station with a provincial radio station and in future a community television station.

"In our thinking as a Ministry is that after you are on air as Ntepe-Manama, we are going to give you another license, a provincial one where you will cover the whole province, that radio station is not going to be provincial, it's going to be commercial, so that all these other languages spoken here in Matabeleland South are going to be broadcast using that provincial radio station," he said.

"On top of that we are going to give you community television licenses so that you can broadcast, giving us your own programmes, your own content.

"You must create your own content. The Sotho speaking people must hear their voices, they must see themselves on television. This is what this administration is about in terms of media reforms. It's a lot that is required of you and it's no longer Government and us. It is now a collective; we are together now because information is powerful. We cannot have development without information."

Deputy Minister Paradza said going forward, Ntepe-Manama Radio Station management will be expected to provide monthly update reports on the progress that they are making towards going on air.

The Deputy Minister was shown the rooms that are going to be turned into a studio at Manama Bible Centre

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe issued community, campus radio stations as well as six free to air television stations as part of the efforts to liberalise the previously closed broadcast sector.

The development will result in communities in the border areas who since pre-independence Zimbabwe have been starved of media content accessing local news.

Most areas surrounding the country's borders were accessing media content from neighbouring countries and were largely oblivious of developments in the country.

Deputy Minister Paradza said President Mnangagwa's administration was giving power to citizens through the issuance of community radio licenses.

He said Government was making numerous reforms to the country's broadcast sector to make information accessible to citizens.

"For 40 years these areas have been getting their information from across the borders," said Deputy Minister Paradza. "They have been getting signals from Botswana, they have been getting signals from South Africa and those in Binga have been getting signals from Zambia and those up north there in Mashonaland Central and Manicaland have been getting signals from Mozambique.

"But this administration has said let us change that. It is saying let us give our communities radios. This radio station is for you, it's not for Government. As the community you should take ownership of this radio. This is your radio."

Deputy Minister Paradza said through communication communities can shrug off the marginalisation tag.

"This thing of saying we are marginalised, is now a thing of the past. Government has realised that yes, these borderline areas have not received programmes at national level, but the marginalisation narrative is now a thing of the past," he said.

"This is why we are here and this is why we have started giving community radio stations to those areas that we felt were marginalised."

Deputy Minister Paradza said areas that have more access to radio and television signals were not issued with community radio stations licenses.

These are Harare, Midlands and Mashonaland East.

Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Abednego Ncube attended the meeting and commended President Mnangagwa for being development oriented.