Text of report by Gaborone-based newspaper Mmegi on 3 September
Francistown City councillors have expressed concern at the presence of the Voice of America (VoA) relay station in Botswana.
The councillors quizzed the Botswana Telecommunication Authority (BTA) representatives about the issue during a full council meeting last week. The civic leaders said that they did not understand the purpose of the country (America) and needed clarification from BTA, the licensing authority.
Councillor James Kgalajwe who wanted to know the links between BTA and VoA initiated the discussion. “What is your relationship with Voice of America? How much do you monitor their content to protect other countries surrounding us or do you monitor their content?” he asked. Also worried about VoA was councillor Motlatsi Molapisi who said that he felt that VoA was just here to monitor African countries.
“It was pushed to Botswana from Monrovia to monitor us. They are as good as spies and they are not even closely monitored. No other country in the world would allow this except Botswana,” said Molapisi. Councillor Kealebetse Ntseane said he did not understand why VoA was used as a jingle on some landlines when one was on hold.
“When you call landlines to Maun and other towns, and you are put on hold, a Voice of America broadcast will come on the line. Is that allowed, can they just interfere like that?” he wondered.
Responding to the councillors’ questions, Senior Manager at National Broadcasting Board (NBB), Boipuso Kobedi said that “VoA is more of a government thing” and they did not have any control over it.
“It is an agreement between Botswana government and American government,” she said. Kobedi admitted that there is “a lot of politics” behind the issue.
“We have tried to regulate but we were stopped and told that it was a government issue. There is so much politics behind it,” she added. Kobedi stated that VoA has been allowed another 10 years since they began operating some time after they were given the go-ahead.
(Source: Mmegi, Gaborone, in English 3 Sep 07 via BBC Monitoring/Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)