Zimbabwe is ready to license its first two privately owned commercial radio stations, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has announced. On Thursday BAZ invited applications for two commercial radio licences, a day after it was heavily criticised by a media lobby group for keeping a “stranglehold” on broadcasting. The licences will run for 10 years each and successful stations will pay $15,000 every year to the authority. Frequency fees have been set $30 per frequency per site every month, while the stations would also contribute 0.5 per cent of their audited annual turnover to the broadcasting fund.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) had, in an Africa Day statement on Wednesday, criticised the government for stifling freedom of expression by failing to open the airwaves. MISA said Zimbabwe was lagging behind other African countries in opening the airwaves.
The unity government, formed in 2009 has issued licenses to a number privately owned newspapers after decades of tight media control. Opening up the media to private players was one of the major clauses under the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) that led to the formation of the unity government between President Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. However, a number of reforms are still pending, leading to calls for the country to delay elections, which are due this year.
(Source: Africa Review via Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
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