Police Raids TV Station Offices, Confiscates Equipment

Journalists working for the station said police officers accused the station of smuggling communication equipment comprising satellite and decoders bought from China.

A reporter told Radio VOP that the raid sent everyone panicking and left journalists worried about their jobs.

“The police and Zimbabwe Revenue Authorities came late in the afternoon Wednesday and went straight to the warehouse. They demanded to see the import papers of the equipment and they were saying that the equipment was smuggled into the country without proper papers. This is very scary since we are now worried about our jobs,” the reporter said.

After a lengthy questioning, both the police and the ZIMRA officers left. They promised to come back since they were not satisfied with the paperwork that they were shown.

Police later returned and took over several gadgets from the offices.

ATV is a free to air TV channel based in the United Kingdom and is owned by Afro Media Company. It relies on freelance journalists for news. It mainly broadcasts for three hours in the evening and is found on mainly Wiztech decoders.

The editor, Sifelani Tsiko, was unavailable for comment as his phone went answered. By Wednesday the station‘s Face Book page still had a programme line up of the night posted.

Zimbabwe is yet to licence independent TV stations