PANOS Asks IBA To Expedite Re-opening Of Sinazongwe Radio

PANOS Institute Southern Africa (PSAf) executive director Vusumuzi Sifile has appealed to the Independent Broadcasting Authority to expedite the reopening of Sinazongwe Radio Station.

And Sinazongwe district commissioner Sheena Muleya says she is crying for the reopening of the radio station to help disseminate information on COVID-19 among other things.

During a multi-stakeholder meeting on Wednesday, Sifile said progress should be expected next week.

Sinazongwe Radio was closed by the IBA in 2019 due to lack of legal documents on the part of the station.

Sifile said the radio station was an important platform for poor and marginalised community members in Sinazongwe to engage with each other, and to engage with their duty bearers at the district and provincial level.

“As Panos we have been working with the radio station since its inception, and we have seen how it has become a reliable and effective platform for engagement. We have partnered with other stakeholders locally and in Austria to source and install equipment for the radio station. Through our various projects, we have also supported the radio station in terms of content development on various developmental themes of local concern. The closure of the radio station is a major setback to the community, and also deprives duty bearers an opportunity to quickly and efficiently engage with community members in some hard to reach parts of the district,” he said. “We appeal to the IBA to reopen the radio station. We have been informed that the radio station will be reopened soon. That is great news, but our view is that it should never have been closed. Where there are issues, the IBA should have engaged the station and stakeholders like ourselves to address any identified gaps.”

Sifile said Panos was currently implementing three projects in Sinazongwe district, with the radio station being at the centre of the interventions.

“The delayed reopening of the station is therefore not a good thing,” he said.

Sifile also said Panos works in four thematic areas which include media development and ICT development, public health programme, environment and natural resources management and good governance and democracy.

He reminded the people that leaders were there to serve them and that citizens should hold them accountable to what they promise.

Sifile emphasized on the need for people to follow guidelines provided on COVID-19.

And Muleya said it had been very difficult to disseminate information concerning COVID-19.

“Because as a district commissioner on a daily basis in Lusaka they would give us the live briefings on how far we are concerning Covid but I believe people here would not even listen to that.

The other obstacle is that we don’t even have a radio station in Sinazongwe so far. So it has been so difficult for us to give a clear view or information concerning Covid unless you go direct on the ground and talk to the people,” she said. “As a district I would like to cry that help us that our radio station can be brought back because when we talk about Covid we are talking about disseminating very important information.”

Muleya said Sinazongwe had confirmed three cases of COVID-19 in the district.

She advised the residents to follow the guidelines that President Edgar Lungu had given on COVID-19.

Muleya said the impact of the pandemic was felt in Sinazongwe because food prices went up.

This article originally appeared in The Mast.