SECTOR 3 Until now, Voice of the Church is the only radio broadcaster to be granted a licence. In February 2009, the SPTC invited applications for four community radio licences - “from all the four geographical regions (one per region) of the country”9 - and one commercial licence for a station “that will operate on a national level, at least for the time being”10. However, later that year a new government took over and the licensing process has been stalled ever since. “People were so excited about the possibilities, and had invested money. Donors came in and granted financial and technical support. It was a huge blow when the licensing process stopped. People were ready to go.” Television broadcasting is regulated by the 1983 Swaziland Television Authority Act which established the Swazi “It was a huge Television Authority (STA). Section 4 of the act gives the STA the power to “establish, erect and operate television blow when the broadcasting stations in Swaziland” and to “issue and licensing process withdraw licences”. Section 17 of the act enables the authority to, “subject to the approval of the minister, grant a licence to stopped.” any person to conduct a television service in Swaziland upon such terms and conditions as the board may determine”. The STA also runs the country’s only television station, Swazi TV, and is thus both a regulator and a broadcaster, simultaneously player and referee. The minister responsible for television broadcasting appoints four of the authority’s board members, while the other four are representatives of government ministries (the ninth is the General Manager as an ex officio member). In 2009 the government published a Communications Bill. It provides for the establishment of a single regulator for all sectors of the communications industry. This would mean licences would no longer be granted and monitored by an organisation that also provides communication services, as is currently the case with the STA. The bill envisages that the minister will appoint the board of the commission. Once established, the commission would then apply separate laws governing broadcasting, telecommunications and postal services. The government has published two bills to govern the broadcasting sector. The Broadcasting Bill deals with commercial and community broadcasting, while the Public Broadcasting Bill would pave the way for the merger of the SBIS and Swazi TV into one state broadcaster. Neither has been tabled in parliament. 9 Press release issued by the SPTC MD (Sourced from www.sptc.co.sz/Regulator/Radio.pdf on 21 July 21, 2011) 10 Ibid. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SWAZILAND 2011 43