A Tshwane community radio station needs to start from scratch to be able to broadcast full-time again after its studios were cleaned out in a looting spree where equipment worth R1.5m was taken.
MamsFM, which was situated at Mams Mall in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, had been broadcasting since April 2011. Its studios and offices were among the properties which were looted in the township last week.
The mall was one of those which were attacked when looting spread to the township last week, with a number of shops being broken into.
The incident has forced the station to go off air for several days and was only back on air this week with the assistance from Tuks FM, Jaracanda FM and Boston Media House where it's now temporarily housed.
“This is the first time the station is off air for almost a week and I'm sad because elders loves listening to the station and it helps them a lot,” said operations manager at Mams FM Sipho Motau.
“I can't believe everything that the station has built for years is gone... it took the station years to be where is it on Thursday.”
The looters stole a fridge, backup generator, studio computers, five laptops, recording devices for field reporters, head sets and destroyed the transmitter. They also stole one TV while the other one was destroyed. Office furniture was also vandalised.
Motau is uncertain which of the looted material their insurance will be able to replace. He said the station's future is now uncertain.
“We don’t know how we are going to recover from this or how are [insurance] they going to replace the equipment. We just need help with temporary broadcasting equipment, especially the transmitter and studio broadcasting equipment,” said Motau.
Motau said the station will be broadcasting from 6am until 9pm from Monday to Sunday until further notice as they're trying to rebuild their studios for them to be able to return to a 24-hour service once again.
Communications and digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has welcomed pledges and donations by the public towards rebuilding of community radio stations that were vandalised during last week's unrest.
Community radio stations whose equipment were damaged or looted include Alex FM, Ntokozo FM, Mams FM and Westside FM, according to Ndabeni-Abrahams.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.