STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 10 Erratic electricity supply also impacts internet access and reports of load-shedding in Zambia and Zimbabwe adversely affecting the quality of internet services abound. (20) According to a Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) brief, Mozambique has the most expensive data per gigabyte, costing an exorbitant US$2.79 per gig, Lesotho follows closely, charging US$2.66 per GB. On the other side of the price spectrum, Tanzania has the cheapest data at US$0.75 per gigabyte. (17) Although Tanzania has the most affordable internet in the region, it is also notorious for imposing levies on electronic money transactions, which impact the cost of using the internet. (21) Through the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations imposed in 2018, online content creators are required to license their websites and YouTube channels with licence fees pegged at US$437. (22) The two most worrying trends around digital rights is the tendency and frequency of governments resorting to disrupting online services during critical moments — such as riots and elections and online gender based violence. In a big win for freedom of expression and access to information in southern Africa — the Zambia Information and Communication Authority (ZICTA) — the country’s regulatory body, entered into a consent judgement and agreed “not to act outside its legal authority to interrupt access to the internet in future”. ZICTA also agreed “to inform the public of the reason for any interruption in access to the internet within 36 hours of any such event”. This was after Chapter One Foundation, a local organisation working on protecting the rule of law through strategic litigation — filed a judicial review proceeding against ZICTA, challenging the internet shutdown during the 12 August 2021 general elections. (23) The realisation of Target 5B of Sustainable Development Goal 5 calling for enhancing the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communication technology, to promote the empowerment of women is hampered by lack of education, resources and cost of connecting to the internet. (24) More worrying is the rise of online gender based violence on the continent. Although there has not been a comprehensive assessment of the prevalence of this form of gender based violence, statistics from Uganda and Kenya can be used to extrapolate and generalise on the situation in Southern Africa. (25) Online gender-based violence or OGBV is one of the leading causes of women not going online, as they are victimised by men, who make the majority of users and use pseudonyms online. Women are subjected to non-consensual sharing of intimate images (incorrectly referred to as revenge porn), body shaming and trolling. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has stated that some groups of women including human rights defenders, women in politics, journalists, bloggers, women belonging to ethnic minorities, indigenous women, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, and women with disabilities are particularly targeted by ICT-facilitated violence. INDEPENDENT CONTENT PRODUCERS For decades, the outline of the media landscape in Southern Africa consisted of legacy media, which was largely characterised by the dominance of State-controlled broadcasting and privately owned media outlets struggling to survive. The environment is, however, shifting. Community media has yet to make an impact in other Southern African countries, as it has in Zambia, which has more than 200 local community radio stations. For the first time, Zimbabwe licensed 14 community radio stations and six television stations. However, a concern remains that the new television stations lack diversity as the six television stations are all linked to the government of Zimbabwe and instead of promoting diversity and a plurality of voices, they may well be replicating the government’s already existing hegemony in the broadcasting sector. The radio industry grew exponentially towards the end of the 20th century when regional governments took a bold decision to liberalise the airwaves. In Lesotho, for example, this brought to an end the 40-year dominance of the airwaves by state-owned Radio Lesotho. There are now close to 27 terrestrial radio stations and one online radio station, but television broadcasting remains 100% state-owned, with the Lesotho National Broadcasting Services (LNBS) dominating the television broadcasting airwaves.