Policy acknowledges: “The authority to grant broadcast licenses is vested with authorities whose organisations are also competitors in the same lines of business”. The Policy promotes independent and transparent licensing decisions, but this cannot be realised until legislation is passed to establish an independent regulator. The panel noted that the Policy was not developed in a transparent and inclusive manner. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 3.5 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 1.0 (2005=1.0) The public broadcaster is accountable to the public through a board representative of society at large and selected in an independent, open and transparent manner. ANALYSIS: The Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS) are state-owned and accountable only to government. The service operates as a department within government and therefore does not have a board. Swazi TV is a parastatal established under the STVA Act. The Minister for Information directly appoints the STVA board. There are no measures in place to ensure the board is representative of society and accountable to the public. It should be noted that the recently drafted Public Service Broadcasting Corporation Draft Bill aims to transform both SBIS and Swazi TV into full public broadcasters with a single board appointed through an open and transparent process. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 3.6 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 1.0 (2005=1.5) Persons who have vested interests of a political or commercial nature are excluded from possible membership in the board, i.e. office bearers with state and political parties as well as those with a financial interest in the broadcasting industry. ANALYSIS: There are no restrictions on who is eligible to serve on the STVA board. The minister can make appointments at his own discretion and his decisions are not scrutinised. Further, according to the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act 1989, every parastatal must have at least one government representative on its board. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: So This Is Democracy? 2007 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1 1.3 (2005=2.2) -239- Media Institute of Southern Africa