government. Already private radio stations, including Harvest FM and People’s Choice FM, have been shut down repeatedly or threatened with closure. The hiking of license fees and the extra powers bestowed on the minister may now spell death for broadcasting diversity and pluralism in Lesotho. MISA Lesotho has been at the forefront of advocacy interventions to prevent the country from sliding into the kind of repression that has been seen in Zimbabwe. The chapter issued alerts and wrote a petition to the prime minister of Lesotho. It also implored the Ministry of Communications to involve stakeholders in the amendment of the LTAA. Political interference in state broadcasters The harassment of personnel at state broadcasters continued during the period under review. Perhaps the most potent indicator of the repression was the firing of the CEO of ZBC, Henry Muradzikwa. His crime was defying ministerial orders to deny the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) favourable coverage in the run-up to the March 2008 elections. The harassment was by no means confined to Zimbabwe. In Namibia the Youth League of the ruling South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) passed a vote of no confidence in the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and called on government to fire the broadcaster’s management. The youth league claimed, without providing evidence, that most people in management were supporters of the newly formed Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). This was after a manager at NBC radio exercised her judgement and prerogative to reprimand a staff member who had censored a talk show. No independent regulation Another negative trend to emerge in the region was that regulators, which are supposed to protect the rights of broadcasters and the public, were at the forefront of harassing broadcasters in Lesotho and Malawi. They, among others, increased license fees almost to the point of driving broadcasters out of the market, confiscated broadcasting equipment and issued constant threats to close down radio stations. This highlights the fact that many of the region’s so-called regulators are just an extension of government machinery. The absence of independent broadcasting regulation remains a major challenge. The digital divide runs deep Another source of concern is the limited access to information communication technologies (ICTs). Internet usage remains very low in the region. South Africa scored 15 per cent in internet usage while other countries scored between 1.0 and 5.8 per cent according to a 2007/2008 survey by ResearchICTafrica.net. The ownership of personal computers and home connectivity also remains very low. The high cost of communications means that many people are still firmly placed on the wrong side of the digital divide. MISA is, therefore, extremely concerned at the placing of further obstacles to universal access to communication such as the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on prepaid mobile phone services as occurred in Namibia in February 2008. Insufficient local content Although there have been welcome developments in most countries in terms of diversity and pluralism on the airwaves, the quality of broadcasting content remains a serious challenge. Most commercial broadcasters tend to rely on cheap foreign content and music. While the state and commercial broadcasters carry locally produced pro- Annual Report 2008 25