Zanu-PF Councillor bans MISA meeting on Community Radio stations

By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 October 2005

Last Friday a meeting about community radio stations, organized by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), was banned by a ZANU-PF councilor in Dete, 40 kilometres from Hwange in Matabeleland North Province. MISA-Zimbabwe's advocacy officer Takura Zhangazha told us that Thembinkosi Sibanda, the ZANU-PF councillor, sent them to the police for permission after he had seen the pamphlets they were distributing which showed journalists who had been arrested or harassed.

Zhangazha said people had already gathered at the venue when he and other MISA officials arrived. Apparently they had been giving the ZANU-PF councillor Sibanda a hard time about operation Murambatsvina because many of them had been displaced by the disastrous demolition exercise carried out by the government. Sibanda was allegedly upset by this and he ordered the crowd to disperse.

Sibanda also accompanied the MISA officials to the police station where his presence intimidated the junior officers who were not in a position to give a green light for the meeting to proceed. Subsequently, Zhangazha’s crew was forced to abort their mission.

Zhangazha said this sort of thing happens whenever they attempt to bring their community radio programmes to remote rural areas. He said radio talks about developmental issues and this makes government officials uncomfortable.