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Radio VOP wins international recognition
Radio Voice of the People (VOP)
May 26, 2006

RADIO Voice of the People (VOP) which was established in June 2000 has come a long way! In its five years of existence the station has survived a severe bomb attack, police raids and arrests, frequency jams, and has an pending court case. But despite the odds Radio VOP is this year's winner of an international media award formerly held by the globally acclaimed BBC World Service, among others.

Zimbabwe's repressive media laws have seen some foreign correspondents being deported, and privately-owned media harassed and banned but Radio Voice of the People (Radio VOP), recipient of the One World Broadcasting Trust's prestigious award for outstanding community media that promotes human rights and sustainable development, broadcasts a daily programme thus providing a lifeline for over half a million listeners hungry for a free media. The award will be presented to VOP in London on June 8, 2006.

Radio VOP broadcasts a one-hour programme of news, views and information in the country's three national languages - Shona, Ndebele and English. Since its launch at the start of the New Millennium, the station has exposed human rights abuses, including the violent land seizures since 2000 and the so-called Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order) which cost some 700,000 Zimbabweans their homes or livelihoods or both and otherwise affected nearly a fifth of the troubled country's population.

Radio VOP operates as a communications trust run by Zimbabwean-based trustees. VOP' s current board of trustees is constituted as follows:-newspaper editor/writer David Masunda is the Chairperson; human rights lawyer Arnold Tsunga is the Vice Chairperson, journalist Isabella Matambanadzo is Secretary, media researcher Nhlanhla Ngwenya is Treasurer and other members are lawyer Lawrence Chibwe as well as journalists Millie Phiri and Matthew Takaona

Radio VOP's day-to-day affairs are managed by executive director John Masuku, a BBC-trained veteran broadcaster and radio trainer who previously worked in various operational and managerial capacities at the then Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) for 26 years. John heads a team of 6 full-time journalists and 15 freelance correspondents based throughout the country. Radio VOP promotes the right to free information for citizens so that they can make informed choices. The station's position became almost untenable when the Broadcasting Services Act was introduced in 2001 effectively quashing all independent media by withholding broadcasting licences from private media through the government appointed regulator The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).Responding to a BAZ advertisement in December 2004 Radio VOP and other private companies applied for broadcasting licences but non of them was granted a licence due to some flimsy reasons. That episode showed government's unpreparedness and seeming unwillingness to open up the airwaves in the near future while the state run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings's monopoly prevails with no end in sight.

Radio VOP's mission is to lobby and advocate for political, economic, cultural and social development through alternative broadcasting. But in its lifetime the station has been castigated by senior Zimbabwe government and ruling party officials as a foreign-funded "pirate" radio station designed to cause ethnic divisions in the country. It has had its frequencies jammed using Chinese equipment. But the station is driven by the belief that it is giving the people of Zimbabwe an opportunity to speak freely about issues that affect their lives and country.

Besides news and debates, Radio VOP is also committed to working closely with Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other bodies to promote good health, education and human rights, especially around AIDS/HIV. This includes features on home-based care for HIV/AIDS sufferers as well as the administration of scarce anti-retroviral drugs.

Radio VOP works hand-in-hand with NGOs like Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in educating the public about basic human rights. The station has also explained about the importance of a democratic constitution with the assistance of the National Constitutional Assembly ( NCA).It has also produced some civic education and media development programmes with the assistance of organizations like Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) and Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET), Media Institure of Southern Africa (MISA) and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition in order to promoted citizen participation in their own affairs. Radio VOP frequently runs popular on-air competitions and gives away Short Wave radio sets. Radio VOP programmes are broadcast to Zimbabwe by Radio Netherlands' transmitters in Madagascar. As a production house VOP sends its programmes files by E-mail, Internet and courier. The station receives funding from a range of organisations including the Soros Foundation's Open Society Initiative, Heinrich Boell Foundation and Hivos among others.

On 15th December 2005 police accompanied by staff of The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and state security agents raided the office of Radio VOP in Harare's Central Business District.They arrested three journalists Maria Nyanyiwa, Nyasha Bhosha and Kundai Mugwanda together with the Executive Director John Masuku and detained them for four nights together with hard core criminals in dirty police cells infested with lice and mosquitos. Later, Masuku was charged together with six VOP trustees, Masunda, Tsunga, Matambanadzo, Ngwenya, Chibwe and Phiri for contravening the Broadcasting Services Act by running a radio station without a licence from BAZ. Radio VOP denied the charge, however, since its programmes are broadcast on Radio Netherlands' airwaves via relay transmitters in Madagascar. The case is still pending in the courts of law and if found guilty, VOP directors are liable to a fine or up to two years in jail as stipulated in the broadcasting act.

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