The Zimbabwean government announced on Monday that a revamped licensing authority will accept applications from new broadcasters and newspapers later this month. But Zimbabwean journalists have told Mail & Guardian that they doubt the move will bring any meaningful change.
The latest announcement follows last week’s decision by government to slash registration fees for local and foreign media. Foreign media organisations will now pay $2 500 annually, reduced from $30 000, while local journalists will pay $30. Earlier in March, government also promised to “relax” other restrictive media laws by the end of 2010.
But Andrew Moyse, project coordinator of the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), told the M&G that the latest changes are merely “cosmetic” because the current framework of media regulations amounts to “a dog’s breakfast of laws.” Moyse points to a clause in the privacy Act which warns journalists not to “abuse” their “privileges” in relation to “publication of falsehoods and injurious statements”. He says that as long as such laws remain, any new regulations are meaningless.
Zimbabwe’s exiled journalists are equally unimpressed by the changes: “We are all frustrated with the slow pace of reform,” SW Radio’s Violet Gonda told the M&G. “We want [government] to start repealing these repressive Acts.”
Gonda moved to the UK as a student almost ten years ago, and stayed on to join SW Radio Africa, an independent radio station, broadcasting from London. One year after the station took to the airwaves with its hard-hitting programming, Gonda and her co-workers were banned from returning home.
“We are still waiting for the government to lift the ban, but they haven’t said anything yet,” she says.
Gonda describes the new licensing authority as “nothing to write home about”, and is surprised that government has not taken a more holistic approach to media reform. “Why not do it all at once? Why has it taken this long to see any change? It is like throwing out crumbs,” she says.
Iden Wetherell, senior associate editor for the Zimbabwe Independent group, is more upbeat. He is “optimistic” about the new licensing authority and feels it should be given “a chance to prove itself.” But he cautions that it’s too soon to remove the pressure altogether: “Let’s get them settled in, but then we will allow no more excuses for delays,” he told M&G. “Once we have our licenses for the new daily papers, we will focus the ZMC’s (Zimbabwean Media Commission) attention on getting other laws repealed.”
Wetherell, and fellow Zimbabwean journalists, say it’s no coincidence that the latest media developments are happening in the run-up to crucial negotiations between Zimbabwe’s unity government and the European Union.
Wetherell says the Zimbabwe government is likely to present the new “reforms” as a bargaining chip to persuade EU officials to remove sanctions.