Community participation and the role of local volunteers are key to the station's strategy and day-to-day operation. Key verbs in the station's constitution are "inform", "educate", "entertain", "produce", "empower", and "strive"; their application is to phrases like "entire community", "equality", "cultural wealth", and "development programmes". The station is operated by nine full-time staff members and between 40 and 70 volunteers, who are involved in programme creation and editing. A board of directors whose membership is drawn from the community manages the radio station. Among the outcomes of the creative collaboration are health songs, role-plays, storytelling and poetry that combine to encourage precautions and healthy practices. Contests are another tool for engaging listeners.

Radio Zibonele operates in tandem with the health clinic next door, acting as a medium to do radio work on the job, reminding persons of appointments, and performing interviews. Radio Zibonele's health programmes use the direct input of health workers at the local community health centre. Health workers and residents of the community collaborate with producers at the radio station to craft the content and format of each programme.

Specifically, the station offers a five-day menu of programmes that are community-focused and predominantly talk radio. Each 19-hour broadcast day begins and ends with prayer offered for the health and unity of the community. Local programming includes interviews and documentaries, with primary health care programmes constituting the majority of the programming. Specific health programmes are focused on women, children and senior citizens. Externally produced programming includes many short segments from non-government organisations (NGOs) and governmental organisations, the Lovers Plus Condoms talk show, and Soul City advertisements. The station broadcasts in isiXhosa, the dominant language of the Khayelitsha community.

Zibonele approaches health communication in the context of broader environmental and social development, based on the observation that “All those we serve are affected by poor health and poor environmental conditions. Radio Zibonele is committed to sharing skills and information through honest process, hereby empowering the community of Khayelitsha for a better life.” To that end, condom distribution as an activity is supplemented by such community projects as tree planting.

Health.

Although health is the central content focus, Radio Zibonele's programmes have expanded to youth, life skills issues, literacy, sports, and religious programmes. Local and national news intersperse the menu of programmes. The radio station has a weekly broadcast of trendy music. The station's only international programme is International Top-20 Countdown that is broadcast on Saturdays between 7:00 and 9:00 PM. The programme, aired just before Party Time, another music programme, plays the top-20 records of non-South African artists.

At the beginning the station "stole the airwaves", since the government at that time had the monopoly over radio stations. The unlicensed Radio Zibonele therefore operated illegally. Despite opposition from the government, Radio Zibonele continued to broadcast until 1994, when they were given permission from the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to broadcast.