Zimbabwe

Despite an August 1995 Supreme Court ruling against the government's monopoly on telecommunications and cabinet promises to free the airwaves in 1997, radio and television remain government-owned and controlled. So far, however, the state has failed to control the booming sale of satellite dishes by wealthy individuals, and it is just a matter of time before a prospective independent private broadcasting company challenges the constitutionality of current broadcasting laws.

Zimbabwe's independent press is relatively open and critical of President Robert Mugabe's government, but there is still a high degree of self-censorship in both the government-controlled and independent print media, which must navigate a minefield of civil and criminal anti-defamation laws and extremely broad and repressive colonial-era laws restricting access to information.

Unlike a number of other southern African countries, Zimbabwe's constitution provides no explicit protection for freedom of the press, and the current legal climate for the media is one of official secrecy and inaccessibility. An amendment to the Broadcasting Act which would allow independent radio and television stations to operate is expected to gain parliamentary approval sometime in 1998. Three independent television stations are now in operation, but they must buy air time on the government-controlled channel in order to broadcast.