(JED/IFEX) – On 17 September 2005, Luckson Kabala and Mayumba Mayiribu, journalists at the Congolese National Radio-Television (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) station in Kisangani, Eastern Province (in the country’s northeast), were suspended indefinitely by William Betua, RTNC/Kisangani’s provincial director, on orders of the provincial governor, Hubert Molisho. The two journalists were accused of “inciting revolting”. […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 17 September 2005, Luckson Kabala and Mayumba Mayiribu, journalists at the Congolese National Radio-Television (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) station in Kisangani, Eastern Province (in the country’s northeast), were suspended indefinitely by William Betua, RTNC/Kisangani’s provincial director, on orders of the provincial governor, Hubert Molisho.
The two journalists were accused of “inciting revolting”. During the 15 September edition of his spoken news programme, Kabala read a press release from the Eastern Province’s labour-union network calling on public employees in Kisangani to go on strike in solidarity with teachers in the capital, Kinshasa. The journalist had previously obtained his programme director’s backing during an editorial meeting to read the press release.
As for Mayumba, during the 15 September edition of his programme “La gaieté au Zénith”, he said the government was “irresponsible” for not respecting the commitments it had made to the teachers’ union in February 2004.
Since the beginning of the new school year on 5 September 2005, all teachers at public and government-regulated schools in the city of Kinshasa have been on strike. They are demanding payment of their salaries according to the scale set by the government at the end of the so-called “Mbudi” negotiations in February 2004. The strike is also affecting most private schools, where teachers have suspended classes for security reasons.
