Zimbabwe tion and Broadcasting Services that the government would comply with these provisions – the government continued its stranglehold on ZBC in 2014. While the minister proceeded to appoint a new ZBC board of governors, the appointments were not in line with the new Constitution and principles stipulated in key instruments such as the African Charter on Broadcasting, which states: All state and government controlled broadcasters should be transformed into public service broadcasters that are accountable to all strata of people as represented by an independent board ... [and] should be governed by bodies that are protected against interference. The Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa also underscores how vital the independence of a public broadcaster is, noting in part VI: State and government controlled broadcasters should be transformed into public service broadcasters, accountable to the public through the legislature rather than government, in accordance with the following principles; (that) Public broadcasters should be governed by a board which is protected against interference, particularly of a political or economic nature. MISA Zimbabwe maintains the full recovery and success of the bankrupt ZBC hinges on appointing a board that is truly independent from all influences and is accountable to the public as mandated by the above-mentioned instruments. Further, the board must be able to determine editorial content independently as mandated by 61 (4) (a) of the constitution. The government must therefore revisit the ZBC Commercialisation Act and all 88 So This is Democracy? 2014 other applicable laws governing the appointment of its board, its conditions of service and policies regarding editorial content and general functions of ZBC. While the minister proceeded to appoint a new ZBC board of governors, the appointments were not in line with the new Constitution and principles stipulated in key instruments such as the African Charter on Broadcasting Still no licenses for community radio stations Zimbabwe is still to license community radio stations, 13 odd years after the enactment of BSA which provides for community radios. The issue of when applications will be called for continued to be bogged down by excuses such as lack of resources for the requisite infrastructure and the need to come up with a binding definition of what constitutes a community. On a positive note, the government conducted 12 public hearings into applications for provincial commercial radio stations. Initially, the call for applica-