A bomb exploded early on Thursday at the offices of Zimbabwe’s Voice of the People (VOP) shortwave radio, destroying one of only two independent radio stations that broadcast inside the southern African country.
”The building was bombed around 1 or 2am. We don’t have any details yet,” Farah Chiumbu, a board member of VOP, said. Police were still investigating the blast, in which no one was injured, she said.
A security guard who was at the building at the time of the blast said he saw three men jump over the perimeter wall, Chiumbu said.
VOP’s offices are located in a residential neighbourhood in Harare. The bomb blew off the roof and destroyed all the radio station’s equipment.
”We were called this morning by one of our staff and told it looked like the building was on fire. Then we came here and saw this,” said Faith Ndebele, VOP’s chairwoman.
VOP uses Zimbabwean reporters who produce programmes in local languages and then send computer sound files abroad, from where they are broadcast on shortwave back to the southern African country.
That system was devised to help VOP avoid falling under oppressive media legislation enacted by President Robert Mugabe in mid-March, just two days after he was re-elected in a vote that was widely condemned as mired in fraud and violence.
Under the media law, journalists are barred from reporting on meetings of the cabinet or other government bodies. The law also obliges journalists to seek accreditation from a government panel and places severe restrictions on foreign reporters working in the southern African country.
Those who violate the law face stiff fines and up to two years in prison.
VOP’s output focuses on health, politics, Zimbabwe’s beleaguered economy, and education.
”Our main strength is that we broadcast in local languages to reach rural people who may not have access to other information,” said Ndebele. – Sapa-AFP