Z imbabwe’s political, economic and social landscape during 2008 remained riddled with insidious events, with no light at the end of the tunnel. It is this state of affairs which resulted in the direct intervention of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) through a mediation process that was to see the main political parties in Zimbabwe negotiate Constitutional Amendment Number 18 in December 2007 ahead of the elections slated for March 2008. In the immediate aftermath of this amendment, the political parties also agreed to amend three of the most infamous media laws in SADC: the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) in tandem with the Electoral Act. Indeed, as with any mediated process, there was hope and anticipation, not only on the part of the Zimbabwean people but specifically the media fraternity, that these amendments would yield democratic reforms to the regulation of the media, not only just for the elections scheduled for March 2008, but beyond. However, the legislative changes to media regulation and the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression have proven to be more cosmetic than democratic; more a papering over the cracks than fundamental democratisation of the media. It is against that background that the media landscape did not register any changes from the previous year, with independent papers The Daily News, The Daily News on Sunday, The Tribune and The Weekly Times remaining closed. The existing independent publications continued to operate on very thin budgets during the year under review as a result of the hyperinflationary environment and prohibitive operating costs due to shortages of newsprint and reduced circulations which impacts negatively on the citizens’ rights to access alternative and diverse information, opinions and views affecting their daily lives. This is despite the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) underwritten by SADC through the mediation efforts of former South African President Thabo Mbeki to break the political impasse arising out of the discredited June 27 2008 presidential election run-off. Under Article 19 of the GPA, which deals with freedom of expression and communication, the parties agreed to ensure the immediate processing by the appropriate authorities of all applications for re-registration and registration in terms of AIPPA and BSA as amended and signed into law by President Robert Mugabe in January 2008. The Daily News remained banned four months after the signing of the agreement despite its pending application to be duly licensed in terms of AIPPA following its ban in September 2003. The state of the media The government of Zimbabwe retained a formidable and lethal arsenal against the media in the form of an array of suppressive laws, which include AIPPA, POSA, BSA as well as the Interception of Communications Act (ICA), Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and Official Secrets Act (OSA). In early 2008, cosmetic changes were made to AIPPA, BSA and POSA in tandem with the Electoral Act to ensure that the pending elections subsequently held on March 29 complied with SADC Guidelines and Principles on the Conduct of Elections in Southern Africa. The SADC guidelines, among other issues, stress the need for equal and equitable access by citizens and political parties to the public broadcaster. In the case of Zimbabwe this meant access to the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). But these changes did not bring about any improvement in the media landscape, as they were only cosmetic, as opposed to fundamental democratisation of the media. Critically, the amendments retained statutory regulation of the media despite the name change So This Is Democracy? 2008 -128- Media Institute of Southern Africa