Calvin Manika
THE story of Zimbabwe, both the past and the present, is incomplete without mentioning Hwange.
The town, which is located in Matabeleland North, is famed for the giant coal colliery company and the internationally admired national park, which is one of the few resort centres in the world to host the fabled and famous Big 5.
Also, Hwange is known for the fierce liberation war battle between Zapu’s armed wing, Zipra supported by South Africa’s African National Congress military wing, Umkhonto Wesizwe against Rhodesian army.
A lot of people worldwide know about Hwange.
Tourists visit annually.
Sadly, despite all the tourist attractions and viable industry the coal mining town faces a challenge in accessing information from public owned, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).
There is no broadcasting infrastructure in the town to give access to people to follow national development.
They depend on social media despite its limitations.
Also, the residents rely on foreign media through pay per view facilities.
“We subscribe monthly for Multi-choice DSTV in order to get news and entertainment. Since staying in Hwange, I have never been able to tune in to ZTV except through DSTV,” said Pamela Masuku, a resident.
“Even the radio stations are not accessible. We receive local news through WhatsApp groups or watch news on SABC”, added Masuku.
In some parts of the world where such challenges have been met, they established community radios to cater for the information gap.
Most of Southern Africa countries have successfully established community radio stations.
South Africa’s community radio sector boasts some 165 stations whereas Zambia has 85 of them.
Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana and Tanzania also made enormous strides.
The Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS), an umbrella body of local initiatives coming from all of the country’s provinces, is not giving up, and relentlessly lobbying regulators, political parties and legislators to speed up the licensing process.
Hwange Community Radio station is one of the shortlisted radio stations to be licensed as soon as all the modalities are dealt with.
Contacted for comment Hwange Community Radio Station Coordinator Fairness Moyana said: “As Hwange community radio initiative we have noted the importance that information and communication play in the development of the community.
“Over the years Hwange has had a huge information gap which has impacted negatively on its development as the residents have lacked a voice to express themselves. This saw residents’ failing to participate in local and national discourse as the information gap is wide.”
Audience research shows that radio is still the most widely accessed medium in Zimbabwe, especially in rural areas.
Zimbabwe needs a three-tier broadcast system consisting of commercial, public and community media. The other two commercial and public seems to flourishing without many difficulties in many towns, but for the community broadcasting it is proving to be a forgotten area.
There is increasing evidence of the value of community radio (or the consequences of its absence).
When the flash floods hit Hwange last year and left a trail of destruction many lamented the absence of community radio channels, which could have warned people about the looming danger.
The poaching of elephants, environmental concerns and mining incidents and accidents are other important issues that the community radio station should have tackled.
Currently there is Covid 19 pandemic, another important issue which needs education at community level especially at this point where many infections are attributed to community transmission.
Moyana applauded the government for calling for license applications.
“The call by government to license has been a welcome development in which we believe that community radio is a tool for development as it encourages debate. We now wait licensing after we filed our application with the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe,” he said.
John Masuku, a broadcast journalist and media trainer said: “Building a resilient and diverse community radio field could be an answer to that”.
