RUNDU - Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Stanley Simataa commended  Rundu-based radio station Rapids FM for ‘a smart partnership’ with GOtv.
The radio station debuted on GOtv audio bouquet on Saturday and now its listeners can listen to its programs as long as they have a GOtv subscription anywhere in Namibia.

Simataa officiated at the event on Saturday. “It gives me great pleasure this morning on this day that the Lord has put aside for us to engage and to bear witness to the onset of a smart partnership between an emerging community radio and the evergreen multi-choice Namibia and this is indeed a progressive milestone that will see Rapids FM programs being made available on MultiChoice GOtv bouquet of services,” stated the ICT minister.

According to Simataa, this arrangement is mutually beneficial to both parties and therefore commended Rapids FM and MultiChoice Namibia for having embarked on the partnership.

“As we have heard, the radio programs that Rapids FM is offering will become available to all Namibians not only those from the Kavango Regions who are all over this country but to all Namibians and all of us will benefit from these services wherever we are,” Simataa said.

Rapids FM is a Namibian owned commercial radio station operating from Rundu.
It broadcasts to a diverse listenership of youth, the young and old. Rapids FM is uniquely positioned in the sense that it effectively broadcasts in all languages spoken in Kavango East and West.

Since both the Kavango and Zambezi regions in which Rapids FM is licensed to broadcast are border towns and  accommodate a good number of people from neighbouring countries, the station also prides itself as a SADC station. In view of its SADC characteristic, Rapids FM also broadcasts in Portuguese and Nyemba, the languages endemic in the Kavango regions.

The local languages covered by Rapids FM in the Kavango regions are; Rukwangari, Thimbukushu, Gciriku, Rumanyo and Mbunza, the station has also attracted a listenership from southern Angola as they also broadcast in Nyemba and Portuguese language spoken there.

“In as much as we may not be in Kavango East Region were the radio station is based, through the programs that will be delivered by the station on the GOtv platform, we will be able to stay in touch and stay abreast of development in this part of the country. This I must say are exciting developments indeed, through this partnerships Rapids FM will expand its program reach while MultiChoice Namibia will enrich its GOtv offerings, this is what I call a smart partnership,” he said.

With MultiChoice Namibia’s, General Manager Roger Gertze challenging Kavango community to start a TV station, the ICT minister said, that is in line with the calls that government has been making, “As government our role and obligation is to create an environment that will enable all of us as Namibians to participate in the economic and social development of our country. 

What has been announced today is one of those opportunities that will encourage all of us to grab with both hands so that in two years time we can see the emergence of that TV station here in this region, let’s not say we are confining opportunities only in Windhoek, opportunities are there we just need to grab them with both hands,” he said. The station was launched on 1 December 2017 by the then minister of ICT, Tjekero Tweya and was inaugurated on 3 October 2017 by Dr Samuel Mbambo, the Governor of Kavango East Region.