pieces to foreign media houses, or receiving “consultancy or settlement fees” to protect corrupt businesspeople from negative publicity. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), however, is working towards setting up a National Employment Council to examine the working conditions of journalists and standardise salaries and perks. MISA Zimbabwe, ZUJ, the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ), the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe and the National Editors Forum are pushing for the endorsement of a national code of ethics, which will pave the way for the establishment of a voluntary self-regulatory media council. Submissions have already been made to the Minister of Information and Publicity and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications in an effort to press for the repeal or amendment of AIPPA, BSA and POSA. Continued lobbying with parliament has led to the legislative body producing reports on the broadcasting environment focussing on the untenable position of the ZBH’s monopoly of the airwaves. The recent acknowledgements by ministers that the BSA is not conducive to private investment in the broadcasting sector and should be reviewed gives credence to MISA Zimbabwe’s ‘Free the Airwaves’ campaigns. However, the enactment of additional repressive anti-media freedom laws can only be indicative of worse times ahead for media freedom and freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. That, coupled with the state-controlled ZBH monopoly of the airwaves, adds to a skewed and fastshrinking media landscape. Broadcasting environment Since the enactment of BSA in 2001, no private players have been licensed to operate independent radio and television stations despite government’s commitment to the Windhoek Declaration, the African Charter on Broadcasting and the Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression. Given the restrictive nature of the BSA concerning funding (foreign funding is banned), ownership and highly prohibitive licensing fees, the government’s commitment to freeing the airwaves is hypocritical. Far from complying with the SADC Guidelines and Principles, which call for equal participation of all citizens and allow all political parties access to the public broadcaster, ZBH continues to act as the propaganda mouthpiece of the ruling Zanu-PF. ZBH has also failed to produce a long-awaited editorial charter to ensure that it performs its mandate as a public broadcaster. Thus, many Zimbabweans now tune into foreign-based stations manned by Zimbabweans, such as SW Radio Africa in London, Voice of the People Radio and Voice of America. Several websites have come on stream, namely NewZimbabwe.Com, ZimOnline and ZimNews, to fill the void created by the closure of privately owned publications. It is hoped that acknowledgments by Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright Matonga in September 2005 that the BSA is a “stumbling block” to the entry of private players in the broadcasting sector will go beyond mere rhetoric. Telecommunications In a public notice on December 2 2005 the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) withdrew the licence of TeleAccess to provide fixed telephone services. Potraz said it had cancelled the licence, given on January 3, because the company had failed to roll out So This Is Democracy? 2005 -146- Media Institute of Southern Africa