The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services of Zimbabwe has called on the country’s broadcasting authority to assist the Bulawayo radio initiative to establish a community station by December this year.
The recommendation comes following a probe by the committee into community radio station licensing processes. Bulawayo’s Youth Broadcasting FM (Y- Star FM) in March this year requested the parliament to probe into their licensing process.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) had denied Y- Star FM a broadcasting license in February on grounds that the station was not listed when applications for licensing were called for.
In its petition to the parliament, the community initiative accused BAZ of deliberately excluding special interest groups such as the youth and women, from the licensing process.
The committee said it was informed by BAZ that, “It was difficult to issue a license that was mainly for the youths under the circumstances that the radio frequency spectrum was a limited resource.”
Part of the committee’s finding presented in parliament also read that “The committee was informed that during the licensing process, BAZ ensured that the licensed radio stations included different interests that are youths, the elderly, people with disability and women, among others.”
“This was guided by section 5(2) of Statutory Instrument 39 of 2020 with regards to licensing of community radio stations.”
The permanent secretary, Ndavaningi Mangwana also pointed out that BAZ’s policy thrust included a look at the community structure to ensure that there was the inclusion of all special interest groups.
The committee received oral evidence from BAZ acting chief executive officer, Matthias Chakanyuka, Mangwana, and Y-Star FM on the issuance of community radio station licenses.
The committee said in its recommendations that, BAZ “should assist the petitioners in establishing a community radio station that meets their license requirements by December 2021”.
“The committee recognized the importance of licensing community radio broadcasting services as it ensures fair and equitable access to the radio spectrum as well as keeping citizens informed of national and regional news,” the recommendation further read.
Some communities in rural Matabeleland South and North provinces have been forced to rely on South African and Zambian radio and television broadcasts, due to poor local transmission. BAZ has so far licensed only six community and on-campus radio stations.