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Stop
jamming SW Radio Africa
Union
for Sustainable Democracy
September
03, 2010
The Union
for Sustainable Democracy is dismayed to learn that SW Radio Africa's
Newsreel programme was jammed Wednesday evening, allegedly by members
of the Central Intelligence Organization who generally operate under
direct instruction from the President's office.
For those who do not
know, SW Radio Africa is a wonderful radio station that broadcasts
from London in the United Kingdom. The station is operated by exiled
Zimbabwean journalists who - after successfully challenging
Mugabe's broadcasting monopoly in Zimbabwe's Supreme
Court in 2000 - briefly broadcasted from a local hotel under
the name Capital Radio.
Mugabe seized
yet another opportunity to further erode the rule of law by disregarding
the court's ruling. Within days they were treated as a cabal
hostile to the state and subjected to censorship and intimidation.
Keen to continue what they knew best, the station's operators
set up their equipment in the United Kingdom and SW Radio Africa
was born. Since then, they have been an invaluable asset to Zimbabweans
across the world, especially those here at home whose ears are continually
bombarded by ZANU PF's irritating and incessant jingles.
The fact is
there is no reason in law to interfere with the services of SW Radio
Africa because they operate within the precepts of the law. As a
rule, international law supports the free flow of information and
it is only in instances where broadcasts gravitate towards hate
speech or gross human rights abuse that radio broadcasts may be
curbed - and SW Radio Africa is guilty of neither. We all
know who the perpetrators of gross human rights abuses are in Zimbabwe.
Surely, in circumstances
where the state monopolises the airwaves, what SW Radio Africa is
offering is nothing short of a great service. For that they deserve
credit and not condemnation. The government is doing Zimbabweans
a great disservice by jamming the SW Radio Africa signal.
ZANU PF's attempt
to invoke state sovereignty as a justification for interfering with
the informative programmes of SW Radio Africa is further evidence
of just how much Mugabe and those around him hate the truth.
USD calls on the inclusive
government to encourage dialogue between SW Radio Africa and JOMIC
to determine how radio broadcasters can operate freely in Zimbabwe.
That is what the so-called implementation matrix envisages! The
MDC as part of that matrix must ensure that it is implemented!
In the meantime,
however, life goes on and ZANU PF continues to condemn and reject
criticism. Until they behave like human beings, objective criticism
such as expressed by SW Radio Africa and other stations must NOT
stop. What must be immediately stopped is the jamming of the free
flow of information and opinion.
Visit the Union
for Sustainable Democracy fact
sheet
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