(JED/IFEX) – On 5 July 2006, a community radio station in Kolwezi (Radio communautaire libre de Kolwezi, RCL), 300 km north of Lubumbashi, the main city of Katanga province, in southern DR Congo, was the victim of an act of vandalism perpetrated by Mr. Barwani, a businessman with the Bazano group that extracts cobalt from […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 5 July 2006, a community radio station in Kolwezi (Radio communautaire libre de Kolwezi, RCL), 300 km north of Lubumbashi, the main city of Katanga province, in southern DR Congo, was the victim of an act of vandalism perpetrated by Mr. Barwani, a businessman with the Bazano group that extracts cobalt from the Twizenge mine, 30 km from Kolwezi.
During its 5 July morning news programme, the radio station broadcast a report on a conflict pitting Barwani against cobalt panners at the Twizenge mine. According to the radio station’s director, Jourdain Ngoy, in return for some cobalt from the panners, Barwani had promised them two cows and uniforms they could wear for a 30 June parade.
Since this commitment was not honoured, the panners became furious and erected a barrier in front of the gates of the Twizenge mine on 3 and 4 July. They demanded to be paid what had been promised to them and called for the businessman’s resignation. Called to restore public order, the police dispersed the demonstrators in the presence of a witness from the radio station.
Angered by the 5 July radio broadcast, the businessman, accompanied by his family and supporters, went to the radio station that evening. Barwani made his way into the office of the programming director, Karton Kassong, and began to insult and threaten him, before smashing all the radio equipment in the office.
Arriving at the scene a short time later, the police arrested the businessman and made an official report on the damaged equipment. The Kolwezi police headquarters, where the radio station’s staff and the businessman were questioned on 6 July, has opened an investigation.
