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Community radio and short radio use in Zimbabwe

Background and Context

Zimbabwe is largely a closed society in the area broadcasting media. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has a monopoly over airwaves which it inherited from the colonial administration.

The country has one television and four radio channels all controlled by the government through the Ministry of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet. All these channels publish largely pro-government views and propaganda.

Efforts by the government to liberalize the sector have failed because of political interference by the ruling ZANU PF party led by President Robert Mugabe. In 2001, the government repealed the Broadcasting Act and replaced it with the Broadcasting Services Act which gives the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), the power to license new actors in the field but so far no private radio or television players have been licensed due to political interference.

Community radio concept

The concept of community radio is a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe but very popular with both rural and urban communities in Zimbabwe . This idea is currently being championed by civic organizations such as the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Zimbabwe Chapter.

Under the program, MISA has established community radio clubs where people record their community concerns and MISA takes those concerns to short wave radio stations operating outside of Zimbabwe for possible broadcasting.

Short Wave radios

Zimbabwe has three short wave radio stations operating from outside the country because of the monopoly over air waves by the state. There is Voice of America (VOA) Studio 7 operating from Washington DC , Short Wave Radio Africa (sw radioafrica) from London and Radio Voice of the People (RVOP) which broadcasts from the Netherlands .

The most popular of the three is VOA Studio 7. The three radios broadcasts from outside Zimbabwe but they have their reporters operating from most parts of the country.

NGOS and other pro-democracy campaigners use these stations to communicate with each other and with their constituencies on various issues such as politics, health, education and other issues related to the humanitarian and governance crisis Zimbabwe is facing.

In order to do this, some NGOs work with community organizations such as unions, opposition parties as well as village heads to form listening clubs in their areas. They then source short wave radios that they distribute to these groups so that they can listen to news. They also give community leaders contacts of these radio stations to air their concerns.

VOA studio 7 broadcasts in three different languages, Ndebele, Shona (the two main indigenous languages) and Eglish. To hear the live broadcasts of news visit the following websites http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/index.cfm. Radio Voice of the People also broadcasts in the three languages while SW Radioafrica broadcasts only in Eglish.

Please share how you have used community radio and short-wave radio projects in your country by adding your comments below, and joining the group (link below).