London-based SW Radio Africa says that it believes the Zimbabwean government is interfering with its medium wave broadcasts. SWRA says it has no official confirmation yet, but reports on the ground clearly indicate the jamming of its medium wave signal. One report said: “I checked for your programming this morning Monday 27 June at 5am local and exactly on the frequency of 1197 kHz there is an extremely strong ‘buzzing’ signal, which is intentional jamming.” Additional reports say the jamming signal is very strong, indicating that the jamming station is nearby or within Harare.
The Website Zimonline reported on Monday that the Zimbabwe government is using technology acquired from China to partially jam the signal from the VOA Studio 7 service. VOA have not officially confirmed this.
SW Radio Africa says “These latest jamming attempts are not all bad news. It does show that the government is feeling seriously pressured. Good news for those trying to create a democratic society in Zimbabwe. We encourage our listeners to keep trying to find us on the radio dial. In various parts of the country we can still be clearly heard and we will obviously be doing our best to counteract the jamming.”
(Source: SW Radio Africa/Radio Netherlands-Media Network Weblog)
