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Bongani Ndlovu Chronicle Reporter

COMMUNITY  in the southern region are working against the clock to beat a December 10, 2022 deadline for them to start operating.

Last year, Government awarded licences to 14 radio stations and seven are in Matabeleland North and South provinces.

The seven community radio stations are Radio Bukalanga (Pvt) Ltd (Bulilima), Matobo Community Radio Trust (Maphisa, Mangwe and Brunapeg); Twasumbuka Community Radio Trust (Binga, Kamativi and Siabuwa); Mbembesi Development Trust, trading as, Ingqanga FM; Ntepe Manama Community Radio Trust; Shashe Community Radio Broadcasting Association which covers Beitbridge and Shashe; and Lyeja-Nyayi Development Trust that covers Hwange and Victoria Falls have been licensed in Matabeleland region.

Two months ago, Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Kindness Paradza toured all the community radio stations, with most of them not having started preparations let alone operations.

He pledged Government support to community radio stations that were struggling to get the requisite equipment.

Chronicle spoke to representatives of the community radio stations on Tuesday and yesterday and they revealed that they were at different stages in terms of the race to go on air. Government gave all the community radio stations deadlines to start operating.

Radio BuKalanga in Plumtree according to Ms Yvonne Tshedu Buzwane, the Senior Programmes Officer, said their equipment had been released from the airport.

“We had imported studio equipment and we had problems with tax clearance and our equipment was stuck at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.

Fortunately we have cleared the issues and now what’s left is clearing it with storage and then we shall have our equipment very soon,” said Ms Buzwane.

Radio BuKalanga will operate in a 40KM radius from Plumtree Town as far as Ndolwane and Empandeni areas.

Plumtree Town Council identified the Country Club for the community radio station to operate from, and Ms Buzwane said the tenant has been given until September to vacate the premises.

“The space given to us to operate by the Plumtree Town Council will be only available in September.

There was a tenant and they were given a notice.

So from September 1, we are expecting to start renovations at the space,” said Ms Buzwane.

She said they were not certain when they will go on air.

She said they were working on programming in consultation with the community which was eager for the station to go on air. Ms Buzwane said they were yet to train personalities and reporters as they were still identifying them.

At Ingqanga FM in Mbembesi, Matabeleland North province according to the station chairperson Mr Veti Tshuma, nothing has been done since the visit of Deputy Minister Paradza.

The radio station will be broadcasting in the isiXhosa language.

Mr Tshuma said the community was cleaning the premises, Fingo Hall every two weeks.

“Since the visit of the Deputy Minister nothing has been done by us the community except cleaning Fingo Hall.

You might recall that during the Deputy Minister’s visit, the three-roomed premises had cow and goat dung strewn all over.

This is because it was being used to keep livestock.

However, we are now cleaning the place every two weeks,” said Mr Tshuma.

He said if they could fence off the premises then they could protect it from the livestock.

“We are hopeful that whenever the Government promises it actually fulfils.

We shall keep on reminding them. We cleaned the premises, but the livestock dirtied it again.

So we have resolved to clean it every two weeks until the renovations are done,” said Mr Tshuma.

In Hwange, Lyeja- Nyayi Development Trust station coordinator Mr Thulani Munyandi said they were working hard to meet the December 10 deadline.

He is hopeful that the Government will assist.

He said the building at Pedagog premises in the city centre was yet to be renovated for the radio station that will broadcast in Nambya, Tonga and Dombe.

“The building needs to be renovated, and we have a company from Hwange that has agreed to partner us.

They are waiting for approval and perhaps by the end of next week, renovations would have started.

According to engineers it will take us 21 days for the renovations to be completed on that building.

We are putting the roof, ceiling and studios so that we can put in the equipment,” said Mr Munyandi. He said in the meantime they had been training reporters and school children with the help of Fact News.

Twasumpuka Community Radio Station have recruited producer/presenters according to station manager Mr Bbaido Ndlovu.

He said they had training for the producer/presenters, the secretariat and board members after the visit by Deputy Minister Paradza.

“We wanted to have producer/presenters because we didn’t want to be bogged down in terms of our resources which are already stretched.

They were trained by someone on National FM and they were taken through a three-day training. We want to thank Inter-News Zimbabwe for sponsoring this training.

We had governance training for board members for them to understand their roles. They had no training since their co-option into the board of Twasumpuka,” said Mr Ndlovu.