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Bongani Ndlovu Chronicle Correspondent
COMMERCIAL radio stations awarded licences in March, but which are yet to begin broadcasting, risk having their licences withdrawn for failing to meet their set timelines, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has said. BAZ issued eight commercial radio station licences but only one, Zvishavane-based YA FM, has launched.

The seven stations struggling to take off are Bulawayo’s Skyz Metro FM, Breeze FM in Victoria Falls, Faya FM in Gweru, Nyaminyami FM in Kariba, Diamond FM in Mutare, KE 100.4 in Harare and Hevoi FM in Masvingo.

During public hearings, every applicant gave a timeline that they would follow until they launched from the date of issuance of their radio licence. BAZ chief executive officer Obert Muganyura yesterday said they would haul the new radio bosses in to gain an understanding on why they are yet to start broadcasts.

“What we’ve to do is to follow up on the declarations that they made as we took their declarations seriously when they applied for their licences. It’s not everyone though who gave six months as a timeline, but we’ll look at those declarations and make a determination on that basis,” said Muganyura.

“We could hold them to account on the undertakings they made not least because there was competition and that (timelines) became a determining factor.” Skyz Metro, Faya FM and Hevoi FM had all earmarked September as the month they would launch their radio stations. Muganyura said radio stations should give reasonable explanations as to why they had failed to launch on the said dates. The statutory timeframe in which they should begin operations from the time of being licensed, however, remains 18 months. “Originally it was six months, but when the Act was amended in 2008 they extended that timeframe to 18 months.”

The licences for the commercial radio stations expire after 10 years from the date of issue.