BULAWAYO - Radio Dialogue production manager Zenzele Ndebele was yesterday fined $100 by a Bulawayo magistrate, putting to rest a year-long court battle.
Ndebele appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Chrispen Mberewere facing charges of contravening section 38 (b) of the Broadcasting Services Act (Chapter 12 06) relating to licensing of listeners.
He pleaded guilty to the charges.
Ndebele, represented by lawyer Kucaca Phulu, was initially accused of being found in possession of smuggled goods in Contravention of Section 182 of the Customs and Excise Act before the charge of possession of a radio receiver without a valid Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) licence was added.
In his submission, Phulu argued that Radio Dialogue never used the receivers which were donations from well-wishers.
“The first people to open the two boxes containing the receivers were the police before they seized them,” Phulu said.
“The receivers were with Radio Dialogue for less than 24 hours before the police raid.”
As a result, he said it was not a deliberate disregard of the law. Phulu further said it was inappropriate for the charges to continue since they now have the ZBC listener’s licence.
The State, represented by Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, alleged that on March 1, last year at around 8am, information was received that Ndebele was in possession of some radio receivers which were not licensed.
Acting on that information, the police proceeded to Radio Dialogue’s Ingwe Studios where they conducted a search that led to the discovery of 180 Etron Shortwave radios which were packed in nine boxes.
Each box reportedly contained 20 radios.
Ndebele failed to produce a listener’s licence as required by the law, leading to his arrest.
Soon after the arrest, police did not take him to court saying they were still investigating the case.
He was later taken to court but state prosecutors refused to prosecute saying police charges against Ndebele were not clear.