Sean Barlow: What is the headline news today?

Ish Mafundikwa: The big news today is that the Commonwealth Observer team says that conditions prior to elections were not conducive to free and fair poll. They acknowledge that violence was committed by both parties, but the majority was committed by members of ZANU--PF.

SB: How do you interpret that rural areas are reported to have voted in big majorities for Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF?

IM:They played the land card. The ZANU-PF militias stopped the MDC polling agents of the party from going to those rural areas, in some cases. The MDC polling agents were not at the polling stations for some of the polling time, and anything could have happened during their absence. And the authorities reduced the number of polling stations in the urban areas, and they increased them in the rural areas.

SB: What is the mood in Harare following the elections?

IM: The people are very angry. They are seething with anger. But in some cases there is also a feeling of hopelessness. They are waiting to see what the political leadership says to do next.

SB: What are other leaders saying?

IM: This afternoon the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions tried to hold a meeting at the Quality International Hotel in Harare, but the whole thing was disrupted by the police, so these Trade Union guys could not talk in private to decide what to do. It was supposed to be a private conference. But the police would not leave.

SB: So what are options MDC leaders discussing?

IM: I think it will go the route of a peaceful stay-away, meaning people not going to work, or a general strike.

SB: What has happened in previous stay-aways in Zimbabwe?

IM: Some of them have been successful. For instance, there was a stay-away over a tax increase proposed by the Mugabe government and because of the stay away, the government cancelled the tax increase. Sometimes stay-aways degenerate into violence. You always have these unruly elements; you don't know who they are or where they come from.

SB: In the western press, you see lots of pictures of young people wearing ZANU-PF/Mugabe t-shirts celebrating in the streets. Who are these people?

IM: You have all these youth militias (recruited by ZANU-PF), including militias who were beating up people in the rural areas. And of course there were young people who believe in Mugabe's mission and voted for him.

SB: What is the implication of this election for the critical issue of land policy?

IM: Mugabe has got six years to deliver. What the government needs to do now is to provide infrastructure to the people who have been resettled. Supplies and services. You can't just expect people to farm successfully by putting them on a piece of land.

SB: What are your priorities for VOP's broadcast services after the elections?

IM: We still preaching the message of peace, as we've been doing all along. Also getting everyone to talk, that's the whole idea. Getting all sides of the story.

SB: How do you facilitate conversation, debate, and discussion among rural people in Zim?

IM: It's pretty tricky. What we do is interview ordinary people who normally don't have a chance to express themselves. We also talk to politicians from both sides when they want to talk to us.

SB: What is the reputation of VOP in Zim?

IM: Short wave is difficult. It's not as accessible as FM. But we do get mail from different parts of the country from people who are listening. We are not associated with any political party.

SB: Now that the elections are over, do you fear any retribution from the powers that be.

IM: I don't see any reason why there should be any retribution because we were not campaigning for the Opposition. But we are doing something that they may not very happy about--I'm talking about broadcasting. We are not breaking the laws of this land because we are not broadcasting from Zimbabwe.

SB: In your dream for the future, would you like to be broadcasting from Zimbabwe on an FM station?

IM: That's what I would love to happen. That would be the greatest thing that would ever happen. It's going to take some time. They've invited applications for licenses for private stations., but there are lots of regulations and you have to get your licenses renewed every year for a community station and every two years for a commercial station.

SB: Given the recent example of nearby Madagascar where "people power" movement of hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of the capital, Antananaviro, succeeding in overturning what they saw as a fraudulent elections and enabled the Opposition leader, Marc Ravalomanana to declare himself the President--Is that a scenario people are talking about in Zimbabwe?

IM: I don't know if Zimbabweans have that kind of resolve.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Background information on Voice of the People (VOP):

Sean Barlow: VOP is an independent station. How is that possible given the control by the state?

Ish Mafundikwa: VOP gets around government control by packaging programmes in Harare then sending them to Hilversum in the Netherlands where they are transmitted to Zimbabwe and southern Africa via their transmitter in Madagascar on short-wave. What we are doing is not illegal. What is illegal according to the Broadcasting Act is ownership of a transmitter.

SB: Leading up the recent elections in Zimbabwe, what was your focus?

IM: W e tried to address the issues from the perspectives of the different parties whenever possible, and reminded the people that their vote was their secret and got the people to talk about their hopes, aspirations and fears after the elections.

SB: Have there been songs, musicians, or performances that have been especially relevant to this election race?

IM: Oliver Mtukudzi and others made appeals for peace (including on VOP ). Thomas Mapfumo also made an appeal. Albert Nyathi and Chirikure also made appeals. Some artists have however jumped on President Mugabe's gravy train to sing his praises.

SB: What were Mugabe's main messages? What does he say about why he deserves re-election?

IM: Because, he says, he wants to give the land back to its rightful owners, the blacks and that if they chose (Opposition leader) Morgan Tsvangirai he (Tsvangirai) would be a puppet of the British and would serve their interests at the expense of the blacks.

SB: What were Tsvangirai's main campaign positions?

IM: That while land is indeed an issue it doesn't have to be chaotic and violent and that the economy and the rule of law are major issue as well.

SB: What did state radio and TV broadcast about the election? How is that different from what VOP is broadcasting?

IM: Opposition members got next to no coverage and when they do it was to show them in bad light. Everybody is free (including ZANU-PF) to explain their position on VOP, as long as they are not preaching hatred or being slanderous.

SB: Where does VOP's funding come from?

IM: From a number of international organizations who are concerned about the ever worsening situation. They however leave the programming to Zimbabweans. We have total editorial freedom.

SB: What is your story? How did you come to this position as Program Editor?

IM: My background is business until I moved to the Netherlands in '87. It was in Amsterdam that I started writing in 1990. I specialized in music and matters cultural and became a stringer for Radio Netherlands around '93. When I returned to Zim in '95, I realized that there was too much happening and I could not afford the luxury of specializing so I diversified. from '97 to 2000. I presented four music shows a week on ZBC's Radio 1. The same day I left ZBC I was on air on Capital Radio, the first station ever to challenge the state electronic media's monopoly within Zim. VOP was already in existence but they were not transmitting from Zim. Capital Radio did and lasted all of 10 days. Myself and two other people were the only voices ever heard on Capital Radio before our operation was raided by heavily armed cops. I joined VOP in October last year and did not really have a full appreciation of what I was letting myself into then. It's hard work and we have been getting a lot of psychological pressure from some government ministers who brand us 'pirates' lately but I personally feel that we have to do what we are doing. I know this is a sentiment shared by the other members of the VOP crew. The bottom line is that we don't compromise our professionalism.

SB: Is your web site up yet?

IM: Yes, but I haven't had the time to work on it yet. will do that this weekend. (the url is www.voxpop.co.zw)

You can get in touch with VOP through:

P.O.Box A952
Avondale
ZIMBABWE
(e-mail) ish@ecoweb.co.zw
(web): www.voxpop.co.zw

--interview by Sean Barlow for afropop.org, copyright World Music Productions 2002, All Rights Reserved

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