Zap Viva already meets “legal requirements” and announces the channel’s return but without advancing the date

In a statement, Zap informs "that all legal requirements are finally met with the National Directorate of Institutional Information and Communication, thus allowing the conditions to be met for the soon resumption of the broadcasting of the Zap Viva Channel on the ZAP grid in Angola", without, however, revealing the date.

Last month, the Attorney General's Office announced the handover of the management of the companies Zap Media SA and Finstar, belonging to businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, to the ministry that oversees the media, after it was announced that the channel would close and dismiss hundreds of employees.

The Government, meanwhile, appointed a management committee for the companies Zap Media and Finstar and suspended the members of the board of directors of the television company, chaired by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, from exercising their functions. to account with justice.

The Zap Viva channel was suspended, along with Vida TV and Record TV África, in April 2021 by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information and Media Technologies (Minttics) due to irregularities.

According to Minttics, TV Record Africa had, as executive director, "a non-national citizen", which according to the organ is illegal, and foreign staff who were not accredited or accredited at the Aníbal de Melo Press Center.

The channels Zap Viva and Vida TV were suspended due to lack of registration for the exercise of television activity in Angola.

Rede Record belongs to the Brazilian bishop Edir Macedo, owner of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, whose Brazilian leadership was removed by the Angolan justice and is currently being tried in the Luanda court.

Isabel dos Santos' stakes in Zap and other companies were seized in December 2019.

Vida TV closed its doors in July 2021, leaving more than 300 professionals unemployed.

Lusa sought to find out more details about the legal requirements that were required of the channels and whether Vida TV and TV Record would also be able to return, which has not been possible so far.