Government has expressed its commitment to equip recently licensed community radio stations to enable communities to have a voice in national development.
By Richard Zimunya
Speaking at a breakfast meeting organized by ZACRAS yesterday in Harare, Deputy Minister of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services Hon Kindness Paradza said government is ready to support community radios.
“Tommorow (Friday) we are launching Nyangani FM, we thank UNESCO who have been assisting us.
“We have given these community radios licenses and we want them to go on air before the stipulated time, but what we have noticed is most of them are not ready.
“So as government we are saying we can assist those without studio equipment.
“All we want is communities to be able now to be able to hear their own voices as soon as possible,” said Paradza.
He also revealed that government is in the process of amending the Broadcasting Services Act.
“The President has made it clear that we must now open the airwaves, so we opening the media landscapes to have new players and create more employment,” added Paradza.
Nyangani FM is the second community radio station to go on air following Chiredzi’s Avuxeni FM which was launched four months ago.
Zimbabwe has 14 licensed community radio stations.
