Radio DJs sacked for saying Mugabe is Malawian

Two DJs have been dismissed within a space of 2 weeks for alleging that President Mugabe was of Malawian origin.

First to be dismissed was DJ Hazvinei Sakarombe who was both a radio and television presenter. Another radio presenter Nonkululeko Vundla has been forced to resign from State-run broadcaster Star FM on charges of alleging President Robert Mugabe is of Malawian origin.

Vunhla, popularly known as Black Bird, allegedly made the remarks in a live broadcast on Mugabe's 89th birthday on 21 February. She delivered the information during her popular Breakfast Show. She has reportedly been asked to resign.

Admire Taderera, Star FM general manager, confirmed the development but declined to give details on the circumstances surrounding Black Bird's 'resignation'.

"I don't want to comment on the matter but I can refer you to the programmes manager, Tich Mataz as I don't deal with those issues," he said.

Tich Mataz was unreachable for comment yesterday. However some workers at Star FM said in confidence that Black Bird had been asked to write a letter of resignation, as the ministry of Media, Information and Publicity expressed anger at the information that had been broadcast about President Mugabe by the youthful DJ. Minister Webster Shamu was unreachable for comment last night.

Star FM employees said working for State radio and television stations was becoming professionally difficult as the country heads towards the elections. During the era of Jonathan Moyo as minister of Information and Publicity, many ZBC workers were fired for no justifiable reasons on allegations that they were supporters of MDC. Some were fired for refusing to broadcast political propaganda messages.

Most notable DJs who were chucked out of ZBC include Eric Night, Ezra Sibanda, Brenda Moyo among others.

Settlement Chikwinya, the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Media, Information and Communication Technology, said his committee was probing Black Bird's dismisal.

"It's true that my committee is handling the matter. Clearly these are unfair labour practices happening to our DJs. Mugabe himself has not challenged that information that his father is from Malawi but we have some being dismissed over such kind of stories," he said.

The committee was also seized with the suspension of popular State Radio and Television presenter, DJ Hazvinei 'Chilli baby' Sakarombe whose programme Woza Friday is one of the most watched programmes of ZTV. Both DJ Chilli and Black Bird were pushed out for broadcasting information on President Mugabe's alleged Malawian origins.

DJ Chilli also broadcast that Mugabe's father was from Malawi while reading the veteran leader's birthday messages on Power FM radio station. Sakarombe's suspension was confirmed by ZBC general manager for news and current affairs Tazzen Mandizvidza on Thursday at Pockets Hill studios during a tour of the national broadcaster by the parliamentary committee headed by Chikwinya.

While Black Bird was unreachable yesterday, DJ Chilli declined to comment, referring questions to the ZBC spokesperson.