(JED/IFEX) – On 18 May 2001, Bagalama Ka Yange, secretary-general of the Ministry of Communications and Press, suspended the cultural programmes Ouragan (Hurricane) and Feux verts (Green Lights) from the private television stations Tropicana Tv and Antenne A, hosted in Paris and Brussels by Serge Kayembe and Zacharie Bababaswe, respectively. The Ministry of Communications’ secretary-general […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 18 May 2001, Bagalama Ka Yange, secretary-general of the Ministry of Communications and Press, suspended the cultural programmes Ouragan (Hurricane) and Feux verts (Green Lights) from the private television stations Tropicana Tv and Antenne A, hosted in Paris and Brussels by Serge Kayembe and Zacharie Bababaswe, respectively.
The Ministry of Communications’ secretary-general explained that the two programmes’ suspension was ordered because of their polemic nature. In its programme Ouragan, Antenne A broadcast an excerpt of an interview with Marie Paul of the band Wenge El Paris, in which the artist-musician sharply criticised Bababaswe, the host of the Antenne A programme Feux verts. In his own programme, Bababaswe responded to the artist-musician’s criticism by calling him a third-rate artist. Bababaswe’s retort angered Wenge El Paris’s Kinshasa fans, who threatened Antenne A programming director Jing Nawej and members of the Feux verts host’s family.
According to information obtained by JED, the suspension order has reportedly been lifted, but the Ministry of Communications had the two private stations’ programming directors sign an agreement in which they pledged to avoid any controversy in future broadcasts of their respective cultural programmes.
The programmes Ouragan and Feux verts are broadcast in Kinshasa every Saturday night to a large viewing audience. The programmes, which trace the lives of Congolese artist-musicians living in Europe, are especially popular with young people.
