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Ignore ZANU-PF shortwave paranoia, start own FM broadcast
Rejoice Ngwenya
March 11, 2013

Professor Jonathan Moyo, a member of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front [ZANU-PF] is alleged to have once labelled Constitutional Parliamentary Committee leaders ‘mafia’. Wikipedia says Mafia, Cosa Nostra or Mafioso, is a “loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering.” Mafia operates under a set of rules and sub cultural codes.

Scanning Zimbabwe’s politics since 1980, one agrees with Professor Moyo how some aspects of our lives are governed under Cosa Nostra-like order. Mafia “have been known to spread deliberate lies about their past, and sometimes come to believe in their own myths.” I noted “Mafiosi meddled in politics early on, bullying voters into voting for candidates they favoured.” The group uses “contacts in government to avoid prosecution as well as persecute less well-connected rivals.”

Under ZANU-PF rule, Zimbabwe is a ruthless jungle, with survival of the [politically] fittest. Land expropriation, murder of white commercial farmers, Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina, 2008 electoral violence, nauseating police roadblocks, extortion of mining shares, arbitrary arrests perpetrated by partisan police - I dare Professor Moyo to label his party Mafia! However, in a lawless Mafioso society, ‘law abiding’ citizens like me must find ways of fighting back. ‘Pirate’ broadcasting!

ZANU-PF controls all broadcasting laws, with a capacity to block Internet. And yet their evil intentions cannot match modern-day technological advancement. ‘Banning’ radios does not mean I cannot broadcast without seeking their diabolic permission. www.irational.org has planted a seed of broadcast rebellion in me. A 50 watt high quality FM transmitter kit costing USD1000, clever use of Transmitter (TX), main lead or 2 clip on battery leads, TX lead to cassette deck, cheap cassette deck plus mains lead or 2 clip ons and 6 volt bike battery, charged up 12 volt car battery, antenna, co-axial cable, programme tapes, small FM radio receiver(s) to monitor broadcasts, multimeter, a pole, plastic 'gaffer tape', torch, soldering iron and solder – am on air!

Aerials can be made collapsible so “it's possible to put in a vehicle, even a bicycle and go mobile… low power FM transmitters can be tuned to slightly different frequencies.” In Harare, a 50 watt rig on a 15 story tower block should cover a 20-kiliometre radius. A directional aerial with 'gain' can multiply that power many times. However, the advantage of lower buildings is that I can multiply both the available sites for broadcasting and switch sites as often as possible. To minimise CIO intrusion, “use a piece of derelict land, or at night can use parks, cemeteries or even allotments … or hills.” Mountainous areas are “even better off and can adopt classical guerrilla tactics, often see the enemy coming distances away.” Water tanks, lift machinery, a hole in the roof, or ventilation or 'stink' pipes can conceal TX cables. It’s highly likely that security agents use fixed or mobile Chinese triangulation stations and detection vans and lots of unmarked cars with own radio frequencies.

Says Wikipedia: I “should practice for quick dismantling and packing of the gear in advance. Sometimes it is easier to leave the antenna and build a new one. … Also change [my] frequency and voices on tape as often as possible.” Pirate Broadcasters are eventually caught. The feudal Broadcast Act or its satanic cousin POSA will always be used against me. It’s really not a death penalty! So Professor Moyo, tell your colleagues to start confiscating FM radios!

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