By Alex Bell
16 August 2010
Press freedom in Zimbabwe is still ranked as the lowest in the Southern African region, in a strong indictment of the lack of progress under the unity government.
According to the 2010 Press Freedom rankings by the international watchdog, Freedom House, Zimbabwe has made slight improvements over the past year. This has seen the country jump five places up the official ranking, which rates countries from “free” to “partly free” to “not free.” Overall Zimbabwe sits at joint 181st out of 196 countries, only just making it out of the bottom ten “worst of the worst” countries for press freedom.
This means that although Zimbabwe has more press freedom than North Korea, it shares 181st position with war torn Somalia and is ranked worse than Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. Freedom House said: "Despite constitutional provisions for freedom of expression, officials display an openly hostile attitude towards media freedom, and a draconian legislative framework continues to effectively inhibit the activities of journalists and media outlets."
The official ranking is a clear sign of the lack of progress made in Zimbabwe since the formation of the unity government more than a year ago. The coalition vowed to improve the conditions under which the media operate, but only a token effort has been made. Journalists are being accredited, but many face outrageous fees. Some independent newspapers now have licences, but the broadcast space remains closed to independent radio.
Loughty Dube, the chairman of the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), said that the same repressive laws that have governed and restricted the media in the past are still in place. He said until the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) are fully repealed, there will be no free media in Zimbabwe.
The press freedom survey meanwhile paints a grim picture in the entire Southern African region, whose leaders are currently meeting in Namibia at the heads of state Summit. The survey found surprising changes in South Africa and Namibia, which both dropped from being “free” to only “partly free” in terms of the media. Freedom House said this leaves “no free countries in southern Africa for the first time since 1990.”
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