BID FOR RADIO LICENCE FAILS

HWANGE Community Radio Station Trust’s (HCRST) bid to sue the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) over refusal to grant it an operating licence suffered a still birth after the Administrative Court dismissed its application.

HCRST Trust applied for a radio broadcasting licence, but BAZ early this year rejected the application.

The Trust then decided to appeal against the decision though out of time.

It filed an application for condonation for late filing of its notice and grounds of appeal at the Administrative Court.

The application cited BAZ as the sole respondent contrary to a legal requirement stipulating that a party awarded the licence should also be cited.

According to the Administrative Court Rules, an appeal should be instituted by means of a notice directed and delivered by the appellant to the presiding officer of the tribunal whose decision is appealed against and to all other parties affected.

In this case, BAZ raised a preliminary point that HCRST’s motion for condonation failed to comply with the court rules because it did not cite Lyeja Nyayi Development Trust that won the tender.

But HCRST argued that it did not know the identity of the party which was awarded the licence.

This is despite the fact that in March this year, it sent an email message to BAZ objecting to the awarding of a community radio broadcasting licence to an undeserving party. Herald

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