Gabz fm switched off for 2 days

Sharon Mathala | Monday August 24, 2015 18:00

 

According to the information reaching The Monitor two antennas belonging to Gabz Fm were disconnected Thursday night. The Monitor has learnt that its competitor Yarona FM is responsible for the blackout, after Yarona  FM station manager David Moepeng, who chairs the board of  a  radio transmission company, Kemonokeng,  co-owned by the three private stations, took the decision to switch off Gabz FM.

Gabz Fm only came back on air Saturday evening after a two-day blackout. Sources within the radio stations said Yarona Fm took this decision after Gabz FM allegedly skipped months without paying their monthly fee at Kemonokeng holding, which had risen to over P700 000.

The only three private stations, namely Duma, Gabz FM and Yarona FM, formed Kemonokeng Holdings, a company that is responsible for running the transmission of the three private radio stations. This was also done so as to have a greater outreach and share costs within the three stations, they then rotate chairing the company yearly.

Monitor has learned the situation may worsen after Gabz FM officials allegedly reported Yarona FM to the Mogoditshane Police Station on Friday.

According to insiders the dispute between the two radio stations came about over the past week, when the interim chair to their joint company, Yarona FM disconnected the two antennas belonging to Gabz FM. The antennas are situated at Gabane.

“Yarona FM through its station manager decided to disconnect antennas belonging to Gabz FM. We were only told about this Friday morning,” said an insider.

 “Gabz Fm I am told had spent months without paying their monthly fees, but Gabz FM, which was chairing the company last year also pointed a finger at Yarona FM saying that they were not paying their fees last year,” said the source who works at Gabz FM but choose to remain anonymous.

Another highly placed source at Yarona FM said “ Yarona FM in its capacity as the chair of Kemonokeng holdings wrote a letter to Gabz FM notifying them that they will be cut off as they are trailing behind in their fees.” Acting station manager at Gabz FM, Lesego Komanyane’s phone rang unanswered when reached for comment.

Yarona FM’s mouthpiece and Station Manager, David Moepeng told The Monitor that they are not in a position to answer to  The Monitor’s question saying;“any commercial agreements we have are confidential, and we will not discuss them.”

Meanwhile attempts to reach the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority for a comment were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.