The official community radio, Zibonele FM is finally back on airwaves.
This is coming two months after being off air due to broadcasting license issue.
The station started its broadcast in 1995 and is finally back on air.
The chairperson of Zibonele’s board of directors, Mthuthuzeli Vellem, said the 20-year-old station went back to broadcasting on Thursday after it acquired a Special Event licence. The licence allows it to broadcast for 45 days.
“On 1 September we were back on air as normal after Icasa granted us a temporary licence,” he said.
He said the station intended to continue operating on a special licence until its application for a normal licence was approved. A community broadcasting licence allows operators to broadcast for four years.
Wellem had said Zibonele had made its licence renewal application to Icasa on 25 June and that they were taken aback when the regulator took them off the air. But Icasa said the station failed to provide proof that its renewal application was submitted before the expiry date of its licence.
