GRIFFIN SHEA, Harare | Thursday
ZIMBABWE’S first independent radio station has gone off the air, hours after police and secret service agents raided its studio in the latest act of intimidation against independent media in the country.
The Capital Radio station only began broadcasting last week after winning a Supreme Court case that broke the government’s monopoly on the airwaves.
Police and agents from the Central Intelligence Office (CIO), along with thePost and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC), raided its headquarters, as well as the homes of people connected to the station.
Police armed with AK-47s blocked access to the studio in the five-star Crowne Plaza hotel in central Harare. Lawyers for the station won a High Court order suspending the police search warrant until Thursday, pending a court hearing over the warrant’s validity. But police refused to grant the station’s lawyers access to the studio.
Police also went to the homes of five people connected to the station, including opposition lawmaker David Coltart in Bulawayo.
Until last week, the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) was the only company allowed to broadcast from Zimbabwe, although stations broadcasting from outside the country can be received.
The Supreme Court dismantled that monopoly on September 22, saying the government was wrong to refuse Capital Radio a broadcasting license. – AFP