(MISA/IFEX) – Zimbabwe’s riot police raided an aspiring community radio station, “Radio Dialogue”, and arrested a Yugoslav international who is doing consultancy work for the station. “Radio Dialogue” is based in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo. In a message to MISA’s Zimbabwe chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe), Father Nigel Johnson, the co-ordinator of “Radio Dialogue”, said that disgruntled […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Zimbabwe’s riot police raided an aspiring community radio station, “Radio Dialogue”, and arrested a Yugoslav international who is doing consultancy work for the station. “Radio Dialogue” is based in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo.
In a message to MISA’s Zimbabwe chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe), Father Nigel Johnson, the
co-ordinator of “Radio Dialogue”, said that disgruntled former “Radio Dialogue” managers, who had been suspended, brought in the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the police and the intelligence service to film the station’s activities. “The police were very nice in the end, once they discovered that we did not have any transmission equipment, only recording equipment,” said Father Johnson. According to Father Johnson, the intelligence officers took a few documents from the office.
In a report that appeared on the ZBC main news bulletin on 15 April 2002, it was reported instead that two members of the ZBC news crew, Bulawayo bureau chief Makhosini Hlongwane and chief cameraperson Trust Mashoro, were manhandled by “Radio Dialogue” staff who threatened to throw them from the ninth floor of the building. The ZBC also reported that their staff was rescued by the riot police, which broke the door leading to the room where the two individuals had been locked in. This contradicts the report from Father Johnson who indicated that in fact the two suspended managers brought the ZBC and the intelligence officers onto the “Radio Dialogue” premises.
The ZBC news bulletin referred to “Radio Dialogue” as a pirate radio station that is spreading lies about Zimbabwe and fanning ethnic hatred. The ZBC also reported that the Yugoslav consultant was arrested by police and will be charged with kidnapping the ZBC staff.
