On Monday, the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media (MINTTICS) decided to suspend, as of 00:00 hours of April 21, the broadcast of TV Record Africa and the channels ZAP Viva and Vida TV due to "legal inconsistencies".
Finstar (a company controlled by the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, which owns ZAP) said Tuesday that it had delivered this morning a set of documents to respond "to the requests of administrative nature" of the guardianship, stressing that they were notified for the first time on Monday.
"We trust that the National Directorate of Information and Institutional Communication (DNICI) and MINTTICS, will make the appropriate assessment of the documentation and information provided" so that the necessary conditions can be created for the broadcast of the ZAP Viva channel to continue to reach subscribers normally and with interruptions.
The ministry said it had suspended TV Record África, for having "in the exercise of the function of executive director a foreign citizen" and non-accredited foreign journalists, while the pay-TV operators TV CABO, DSTV ANGOLA, and Finstar, which are legalized, "distribute the channels ZAP Viva, VIDA TV AND REDE RECORD without the registration to exercise the television activity in Angola.
ZAP said in its statement that the decision of MINTTICS refers to the broadcast of ZAP Viva channel in Angola, and is not related to the TV distribution service that is provided by Satellite and Fiber in Angola.
Earlier, Record TV Africa was also surprised with the suspension of its activity, saying it would ask for clarification from the guardianship and adopt the "appropriate legal measures.
The Record network is owned by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), whose leadership has been disputed in Angola by the Brazilian and Angolan wings, recently legitimized by the government, and has released several reports critical of the government, claiming that religious Brazilians are targets of xenophobia in Angola.
MINTTICS also decided to suspend the provisional registrations of newspapers, magazines, news websites and radio stations with no effective activity in the last two years.
