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Police bar free the airwaves concert
MISA-Zimbabwe
July 25, 2011

The police on 23 July 2011 barred MISA-Zimbabwe and Artists for Democracy Trust Zimbabwe from staging a joint Free the Airwaves concert at Warren Park Shopping Centre in Harare.

This is despite the fact that the organisers of the event had notified the police of the event and cleared to proceed with the concert.

Warren Park police officers argued that the notification letter did not outline that the activity was a public awareness activity. The police said they only became aware of the scope of the event following an article published in the NewsDay of 20 July 2011.

The preview article quoted MISA-Zimbabwe Advocacy Officer Tabani Moyo saying: "It is our right as people of Zimbabwe to have diverse views. Such views can only be promoted through a level-playing field in the media. We need a diverse broadcasting sector as we are only limited to ZBC products. There should be public, private and community media."

Free the airwaves concerts are platforms that MISA-Zimbabwe employs to build public support in lobbying the authorities on the need for wholesale broadcasting reforms that will completely liberate the airwaves in line with regional and international treaties on freedom of expression. The Zimbabwean broadcasting sector continues to be dominated by the state-run ZBC 31 years after independence.

MISA-Zimbabwe condemns the barring of peaceful civil events and gatherings such as the one slated for Warren Park as not only undemocratic but indicative of the extent to which the police are arbitrarily abusing their authority to violate citizens' constitutionally guaranteed rights. It is such arbitrary actions that the coalition government should urgently address and curb to prevent the country's plunge into a police state.

Despite the set-back, MISA-Zimbabwe remains undeterred in its demands for a diverse broadcasting sector. It therefore calls on the government of Zimbabwe to embrace the provisions of the African Charter on Broadcasting (2001) which enjoins member states to facilitate the development of a three (3) tier broadcasting system through the establishment of public, commercial and community broadcasters.

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