adminIn our edition on Friday we carried a story in which the Government said it would engage South African President Jacob Zuma over the intensification of pirate radio broadcasts into the country, with some of them reportedly working with Sentech, the South African parastatal that carries the signal of the three SABC stations.
A British-funded pirate television station, 1st TV, was launched at the weekend to fill the void left by the removal of the SABC signal from the free to air platform on July 1.
The station reportedly broadcasts for two hours a day and as part of the same project there is a pirate radio that has been launched and is broadcasting into the country.
President Zuma as the Global Political Agreement facilitator, should be concerned that pirate stations are beaming into Zimbabwe from South Africa, with the assistance of a Government-owned entity, and in violation of the GPA, which outlaws pirate radio stations.
The onslaught on our country by the Americans and the British has been in force for the past decade with pirate radio stations continuing to broadcast anti-Government sentiment into the country.
While the Americans have been vociferous in their pretentions of supporting adherence to the GPA, their actions show that they only support provisions that give their local surrogates the advantage as we head towards elections.
It appears the establishment and the increase in support for the illegal stations is part of a grand election strategy that constitutes serious meddling in the affairs of this country.
It is our hope that South Africa has not been enlisted in that strategy through the use of Sentech to allow the new television station to spew dangerous messages into Zimbabwe.
We are aware of the power of radio and television and the danger that these pose when put in irresponsible hands and we fear that this 1st TV project has that potential to divide our united nation.
History has taught us what irresponsible broadcasting can do to a nation and the memories of Rwanda’s upheavals stoked by the media are still fresh in our minds.
Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity Mr George Charamba said Government was aware of the technical co-operation between Sentech and VOA and that it would pursue diplomatic channels to address the issue.
“Also, we are not very sure if the South African government is aware of what its parastatal is doing to hurt Zimbabwean interests. We will pursue diplomatic channels,” said Mr Charamba.
We hope that Government will act with haste to disable the new illegal broadcasts and we are heartened by the new tone from South African authorities that appear to be nipping waywardness by officials in its institutions.
We know that there are some quarters that have been agitating for the opening up of the airwaves in the country and there are those that are trying to argue that illegality could be justified as a recourse by our citizenry trying to enter the broadcasting arena.
However, that notion is a bit warped in that the main players in these projects are not Zimbabwean, and the agenda definitely not African by any means.
Opening up to more players is a process that is in motion and shall not be dictated from London or Washington, and the signs are there for all to see with new radio stations having been licensed last year and more set for licensing.
However, the Government should not surrender our frequency spectrum to elements that do not uphold our values and treasure our national interest that we hold so dear.
Zimbabwe will not be forced to deviate from its timelines due to the impatience of some foreigners who have so far hit a brick wall in their bid to spread their propaganda within our borders so that it ties up with their sanctions strategy to cause an uprising and disaffection for Zanu-PF and victory for their favoured candidate in the next election.
We believe South Africa will do the right thing by switching off these illegal stations that seek to use its territory to promote mayhem in Zimbabwe.
We have seen such collaborations, some of them strenuously denied, in the past whereby countries in the region were providing Americans a base to broadcast their Voice of America programmes into the country.
This is not good neighbourliness and we do not deserve such treatment since we have never interfered in the affairs of their countries.
Online Reporter