SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has defended the move by police to ban possession of wind-up shortwave radios in February.
The issue was raised in parliament by legislator Simon Hove, who wanted to know from the Minister what the motives for the ban were.
A report in the Herald newspaper indicates that Makone, whose ministry is responsible for the police, condoned the seizures, saying the police were within their powers to confiscate the illegally imported radios.
The same report also quoted Makone as saying the receivers were a security threat because they peddled hate speech.
Outgoing MDC-T Highfield East MP Simon Hove, who asked the question in parliament, told SW Radio Africa Thursday that Minister Makone’s response left him none the wiser.
He said Thursday: “I wanted to know the motive behind such selective and vindictive actions by the police. I wanted the minister to explain to me whether this was government policy or whether police were pursuing political parochial interests.
“In her response, Makone went on to address the issue of two-way radio transmitters used by the police and security personnel, commonly known as ‘Over-Overs’, yet my question was specifically about shortwave radios used by ordinary citizens to access and acquire information,” Hove said.
MP Hove said it did not make sense that the police viewed wind-up shortwave radios as a security threat.
“People have a right to know what is happening around them and beyond. Besides radios do not tune themselves, individuals navigate through several stations before they select a particular station to listen to,” he said.
Hove said towards the end of her answer Minister Makone appeared to acknowledge the usefulness of the shortwave radios but still seemed to justify the police actions by saying they were either confiscating illegally imported radios or acting against hate speech.
This was also confirmed by the MDC-T MP for Mazoe Central, Shepherd Mushonga, who said Minister Makone first condoned radio seizures before adding that hate speech was also prevalent in the print media within the country.
“The radios are not the problem, but the peddling of hate speech, and the police will also confiscate illegally imported radios. The threat is found when citizens are being set against each other,” Makone is quoted in the Herald as having said.
Hove said: “Even so, there is no justification for the police to be raiding private citizens’ homes. They are supposed to take this up with the importers. Still, the receivers could not have got into the country without the authorities being aware.”
Hove added that the so-called hate speech said to be peddled by radio stations based outside the country, which are the main target of the police ban, is nothing more than citizens finding an alternative channel to be heard.
He said public figures should be prepared to be subjected to scrutiny by citizens: “Most of what is being called hate speech by the police is people expressing themselves on issues that wouldn’t have been attended to by elected officials.
“The solution is not in shutting out those voices but in listening to what the people are saying,” Hove said.
SW Radio Africa could not get a comment from Minister Makone, as her assistant said she was in a meeting.
Since the confiscations began in February, human rights activists have raised concern that the banning of the solar powered radios violates the people’s constitutional right to information.