This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002289 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
AF FOR RAYNOR 
NSC FOR TEITLEBAUM 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
VOA/IBB FOR OGULNIK, STEWART AND MENGESHA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT VOA'S STUDIO 7 UNDER HEAVY FIRE 
AGAIN; HARARE 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
REF:  (A) HARARE 001536      (B) HARARE 002017     (C) 
HARARE 002170 
 
  ¶1.   Voice of America's (VOA) Studio 7 program on Zimbabwe 
      made the hub of the lead story carried in the November 23 
      edition of the government-controlled weekly "The Sunday 
      Mail" (circulation 55 - 70,000), in which the United States 
      Government is slammed for allegedly setting up a 
      transmitter in Botswana in order to broadcast "anti- 
      Zimbabwe propaganda" and "demonizing the country" ahead of 
      the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM) in 
      Abuja, Nigeria next month.  The propaganda article by the 
      paper's political editor, Munyaradzi Huni,  comes hard on 
      the heels of a successful visit to Zimbabwe by Botswana's 
      Foreign Minister Retired Lt. Gen. Marahfe Mompati. The 
      article inadvertently ended up being a Studio 7 advertorial 
      piece, announcing the existence of the station, the 
      frequency, and time of broadcast.  Excerpts of the article, 
      printed under headline "U. S. sets up anti-Zim radio in 
      Botswana," follow: 
 
  ¶2.   "The U. S. has set up a medium wave radio transmitter 
      that is allegedly broadcasting anti-Zimbabwe propaganda 
      from a site called Selebe Pikwe in Botswana, a move that 
      could raise tension between the two neighboring countries, 
      investigations have revealed.  The hostile broadcasts being 
      beamed from the VOA transmitter are aimed at demonizing the 
      country ahead of the CHOGM set for Abuja, Nigeria, early 
      next month. . .Sources close to the operations of 
      Transmedia, a company tasked with managing the country's 
      mass-market public broadcasting infrastructure, said the 
      hostile broadcasts were (being) received in Matabeleland 
      North and Midlands provinces.  `Reception is clearer 
      especially at night as the coverage area increases.  We 
      believe this is being broadcast from the VOA transmitter in 
      Botswana on frequency 909 Khz at a site called Selebe 
      Pikwe.  We have come up with this conclusion because 
      transmission from medium wave is mostly local and hence can 
      only be done from the vicinity of the country," said the 
      source.  It is understood that VOA, which usually transmits 
      on short wave, is giving Studio 7 a slot for broadcasting 
      during the evening around 7 PM (local time) in the evening. 
 
  ¶3.   ". . .Recently the Minister of State for Information 
      and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo, said there 
      was a transmitter transmitting hostile propaganda 
      from a neighboring country but he did not name the 
      country.  These new revelations are set to raise 
      tension between Zimbabwe and Botswana as in the past 
      there have been allegations that Botswana has a U. 
      ¶S. military airbase near the Kalahari Desert. 
      Botswana has denied the allegations. . .The 
      situation is made worse considering the revelations 
      earlier this year by the outgoing U. S. Assistant 
      Secretary of State for African Affairs Mr. Walter 
      Kansteiner who said his government was working with 
      Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique to topple 
      President Mugabe and his government from power. . 
      .All three countries denied the allegations but some 
      diplomats in Harare and some ZANU PF top officials 
      urged the government to `dig deep' into the matter 
      as `there is no smoke without fire.'  Also earlier 
      this year, Mr. Kansteiner was in Botswana where he 
      had a lengthy stay after holding meetings with that 
      country's leader Festus Mogae. . .His visit to 
      Botswana was immediately followed by the visit by U. 
      ¶S. President George W. Bush who also met that 
      country's leadership.  Diplomatic sources who spoke 
      on conditions of anonymity said the visits by the U. 
      ¶S. officials could have `given birth and saw the 
      growth of Studio 7.' 
 
  ¶4.   "It is understood that Studio 7 has secretly recruited 
      journalists from both the public and private media who are 
      filing stories using pseudo names.  Government sources say 
      the security net is fast closing in on them and those found 
      `moonlighting' for the station would be `dealt with 
      severely.'" 
 
  ¶5.   (SBU) COMMENT:  From the moment VOA's Studio 7 hit 
      the airwaves, the government of Zimbabwe, through 
      the office of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, 
      has relentlessly attacked the United States 
      Government for "toughening its hostility towards 
      Zimbabwe" by "churning out propaganda about regime 
      change" through Studio 7.  Moyo amplified this 
      scathing attack on the U. S. on July 29 when he met 
      an Iranian delegation, in the country to revamp the 
      television and frequency modulation (FM) network for 
      the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation 
      (ZBC).  "The U. S. Government was sowing seeds of 
      division among people in rural areas using a radio 
      station known as Studio 7. . .Where we celebrate our 
      own culture, the idea of a superpower imposing its 
      will on the rest of the world is totally 
      unacceptable," Moyo is quoted saying.  Last October, 
      Moyo was also heavily quoted in the independent 
      newspapers as saying "Studio 7 will die.  It faces 
      death.  They think we are sleeping, we want to see 
      where they are going with Studio 7."  This threat 
      came immediately after the closure of Zimbabwe's 
      first independent daily "The Daily News" on 
      September 12. 
 
      With such a cheerless backdrop, the lead article in 
      the November 23 edition of the government-controlled 
      weekly "The Sunday Mail" is no surprise. It is 
      almost certainly a planted story generated by 
      Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, according to our 
      contact at the newspaper.  We believe that this is 
      the first shot in a propaganda salvo aimed as 
      pressuring the Government of Botswana over what Moyo 
      views as anti-regime propaganda emanating from 
      across the border.  While Moyo is something of a one- 
      man show in attacking any source of information on 
      Zimbabwe that he can/does not control, it is 
      probably that higher-ups in the GOZ have approved 
      Moyo's effort to intimidate the Government of 
      Botswana.  (The article appears in the same edition 
      as an article by the same Mr. Huni castigating 
      Nigerian President Obasanjo for being influenced by 
      the "white Commonwealth members to not invite 
      President Mugabe to the Commonwealth CHOGM session 
      in Abuja.  Le it not be said that Moyo confines his 
      bluster and bullying tactics to Zimbabweans, the 
      U.S. and the U.K.) 
 
SULLIVAN