"With next year's elections approaching, President João Lourenço and his administration should promote plurality of perspectives in the 'media' and ensure that the state does not have a monopoly on information crucial for the public to make informed decisions," said Ângela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator, cited in a statement from the organization.
On April 19, the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media (Minttics) ordered three television operators (DSTV Angola, TV Cabo and ZAP) to suspend the channels Record TV África, Vida TV and ZAP Viva for "legal inconsistencies.
The CPJ statement also noted that the president of the Union of Journalists of Angola, Teixeira Cândido, told the non-governmental organization (NGO) that the three channels were suspended without prior notice, under allegations that they were operating without proper registration.
Angolan citizens "are now limited to watching the channels that are under direct government control," added Cândido, quoted in the same note.
André Mussamo, head of the Institute for Social Communication in Southern Africa (Misa) for Angola added that Record TV África, Vida TV and ZAP Viva have become a target for the authorities due to their journalism critical of João Lourenço, according to the same statement.
CPJ said it tried to contact the Secretary of State for Social Communication, Nuno Caldas, for a comment, but the official did not answer calls and replied via message that he would not speak and did not respond to further attempts to contact him.
The NGO also requested a comment from Minttics through the 'email' provided on the 'site', "but received an error message, saying that that address was not working."
CPJ also points out the passage to the state sphere of the Media Nova group (owner of TV Zimbo, the newspaper O País, the magazine Exame and Rádio Mais, as well as the printing company Damer) that belonged to former vice-president Manuel Vicente and generals Leopoldino dos Santos "Dino" and Hélder Vieira Dias "Kopelipa" and Interactive Empreendimentos Multimédia (owners of Palanca TV and Rádio Global), whose owner was Manuel Rabelais, former Media Minister under former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos.
On April 30, 10 days after the suspension of the channel by the authorities, Record TV Africa announced the departure of the director, the Brazilian Fernando Teixeira, and declared to have only Angolan workers.
Fernando Henrique Teixeira, who assured the executive management of the company, was replaced in the functions, after 10 years in Angola, by Simeão Mundula, a journalist who passed through Radio Nacional de Angola and Televisão Pública de Angola (TPA), and who since 2018 was editor-in-chief and host of the JR Africa program exhibited by Record TV Africa and Record News International.
The Record network is owned by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), whose leadership has been disputed in Angola between Brazilian and Angolan factions, the latter having recently been legitimized by the government.
The network has released several reports critical of the government, claiming that religious Brazilians are targets of xenophobia in Angola.
Record, which claims to be registered since 2011 in the National Directorate of Information and Institutional Communication (DNICI) of Minttics as a company that creates audiovisual products, being made available in Angola by the DSTV platform, also assures that "all its programs are produced through the use - unique and exclusive - of Angolan professionals."
Record and ZAP said they were taken by surprise by the Angolan authorities' decision, while Vida TV has not commented on the matter.
On Thursday, ZAP, a telecommunications operator owned by Finstar, a company controlled by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, announced the resumption of normal broadcasting of the ZAP Viva channel in Mozambique and Portugal, while it remained suspended in Angola.
According to the Angolan authorities, the pay-TV providers - TV Cabo, DSTV Angola and Finstar (owner of ZAP TV) -, although duly legalized, distribute the channels ZAP Viva, Vida TV and Rede Record "without the registration to exercise the television activity in Angola".
The Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media, Manuel Homem, declined to provide further clarification on the matter.
