The station manager of Makhado FM, Mr Moses Muneri, is out on bail after he was arrested for allegedly stealing a radio transmitter.

He briefly appeared in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate's Court last Wednesday.

Muneri is facing charges of theft. Muneri's arrest was confirmed by the spokesperson for the Makhado police, Capt Maano Sadike, last Tuesday. The case was postponed to 26 January and ,according to Sadike, Muneri was released on bail of R2 000.

All this resulted in the radio station's being off the air on 3 and 4 January. This followed after Muneri's suspension in December last year.

The station's marketing manager, Mr Takalani Khomola, who is now acting as the station manager, said that the radio had to get a new transmitter which they were renting at R6 500 a month. "We had to contact a company from Johannesburg to come and install the new transmitter for us," he said.

Muneri is said to be the prime suspect in the case because he was the only person with the keys to the place where the transmitter was.

Makhado FM, however, is still faced with a debt of more than R700 000 which they owe their landlord.