Zimbabwean radio station wins international recognition

A Zimbabwean radio station that has survived bomb attacks, police raids and arrests, frequency jams, and an impending court case, has won an international media award, formerly held by global giant BBC World Service.

Despite repressive media laws which have seen foreign correspondents deported, and all non-government-sanctioned media banned, Radio Voice of the People (Radio VOP), the recipient of the One World Special Award, sponsored by BBC World Service Trust, broadcasts a daily programme, providing a lifeline for up to half a million listeners hungry for a free media.

Each day, the independently funded Radio VOP broadcasts a one-hour programme of news, views and information in the country’s three national languages - Shona, Ndebele and English. In the six years since its launch, it 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 and livelihoods and otherwise affected nearly a fifth of the troubled country's population.

Radio VOP operates as a communications trust, established in June 2000, and is run by Zimbabwean-based trustees who include journalists and lawyers. Its day-to-day affairs are managed by executive director John Masuku, a BBC-trained veteran broadcaster who will visit London to receive the award.

John leads a team of 6 full-time journalists and 15 freelance correspondents based throughout the country. The trust promotes the right to free information so that citizens can make informed choices. Radio VOP ’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 Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.* More recently Radio VOP has applied for a commercial radio licence; but like other independent TV and radio operators, they were turned down.

“In its lifetime the station has been criticised, threatened and jammed but what drives us on is the belief in giving a voice to the voiceless – giving the people of Zimbabwe an opportunity to speak freely about issues that affect their lives and country” said Radio VOP director, John Masuku.

As well as news and debate, the station is also committed to working closely with NGOs and other bodies to promote health, education and human rights, especially around HIV/AIDS. This includes features on home-based care for HIV/AIDS sufferers as well as the administration of anti-retroviral drugs.

Radio VOP has run programmes on promoting basic human rights with the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and has covered issues about constitution-making with the National Constitutional Assembly. During Parliamentary and local elections the station works with organisations like Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network and Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust to encourage participation. Radio VOP frequently runs on-air competitions for Short Wave radios.

The programmes are broadcast to Zimbabwe by Radio Netherlands’ relay transmitters in Madagascar. As a production house VOP sends its programmes files by e-mail, internet and courier. It receives funding from a range of organisations including the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Initiative, Heinrich Boell Foundation and Hivos, among others.

The One World Media Awards will take place on Thursday 8 June 2006 at a new awards venue, the Porchester Hall, Bayswater, and will be hosted by Channel 4’s Jon Snow. The 11 award categories cover television, radio, new media and print journalism.

 

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