African airwaves
By Barney Mthombothi Posted Jan 1 2005
AP photo/Karel Prinsloo
A Kenyan schoolgirl hears her lessons over a radio in her classroom. Radio is the medium that carries news to many rural areas in Africa, allowing even those who cannot read to hear news in their own language.
The slow but inexorable march of democracy in Africa has been a boon for press freedom on the continent. Apart from famine and wars, Africa was also a byword for repressive regimes intolerant of dissenting voices or free expression. In such a situation a free press is always the first casualty. Despite such notable exceptions as Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, the African press today is experiencing a new dawn. It has made huge strides in the past decade, strides that have coincided with the democratization process. In the past, most African countries only allowed government-controlled radio, television and newspapers, and the government department of information was a misnomer. Its responsibility was not to inform the public but to deny it free access to information. With the end of the Cold War, however, African governments lost their ability to play the two superpowers against each other. As a result, they were exposed to external pressure for change from both multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations.
The nineties, therefore, saw democracy mushrooming throughout the continent, and with it came a relaxation of restrictions on the media. The situation is still far from ideal, but press freedom on the continent is better than it has ever been. In countries such as South Africa, the right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution. Even Zambia, which for three decades was under one-party rule, has developed to such an extent that there is currently a feverish discussion among media stakeholders about a Freedom of Information Bill that was withdrawn from parliament two years ago “for wider consultation.”
At the other end of the spectrum, however, is a country such as Zimbabwe, where the independent media have been under fierce attack from the government. This attack coincides with the state’s campaign against the political opposition and the judiciary. The independent Daily News was constantly harassed and its journalists persecuted until its closure by government decree.
While media restrictions remain a problem in some countries, the new bugbear is how to make information generally accessible to the public, especially the rural poor. High illiteracy rates and an inability to speak or understand English and/or French mean that print is a medium for the elite. As a result, it is difficult for ordinary people who are only competent in their local language to engage in critical debates that affect their lives. For them, democracy becomes a meaningless concept. Such a situation is prevalent in most African countries because, unlike other colonized people around the world, Africans did not revert to their indigenous languages after their independence.
South Africa, for instance, has 11 official languages. But the language of business and politics is English. Parliamentary debates are in English and most newspapers are in English. That means that in a country where 30 percent of the population is functionally illiterate, a huge chunk of society can barely follow – let alone participate in – the national discourse. Because newspapers are, for various reasons, not readily available to the majority of people, radio is the only alternative. It is cheaper than print and easily available in a language that is accessible to ordinary people. For many African villagers, when it comes to the media, it is either radio or rumor. Radio is the only medium that informs and connects many people in rural communities with the outside world. But radio is open to abuse by governments for propaganda purposes because in most countries it is the government that grants licenses to operate radio stations.
In South Africa, the apartheid government had a radio station for every language group, but every broadcast was strictly monitored. These stations had audiences who ran into the millions and who were captive listeners for government propaganda. With the changes in the country, however, official control of broadcasting has relaxed. The national public broadcaster was granted autonomy and a broadcasting regulatory authority was created to oversee the industry and to grant licenses to independent operators. But most of the newcomers are commercial operators who concentrate on urban areas. They are not interested in rural areas because there is no money to be made there. It is, therefore, left to the public broadcaster to take care of audiences in outlying areas. Most rural communities have no access to electricity, so radio is the only suitable medium.
Ironically, the freeing of the airwaves has widened the gulf in media access between urban and rural, rich and poor. It is a dilemma which the South African government has tried to solve by creating an act of parliament called the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA). The agency’s purpose is to encourage ownership, control and access to media for communities, language and cultural groups which were previously denied such access or were disadvantaged by apartheid. It also seeks to channel resources to community and small commercial media and to help develop skills in the industry. The agency is funded through a levy on the industry.
But if South Africa is extending media access, the Zimbabwe government of President Robert Mugabe is doing the opposite. In his attempt to stay in power, Mugabe has led a relentless campaign against the media, especially the independent media that he regards as the mouthpiece of the opposition. He has gone against court orders and closed down newspapers. He has imposed stringent restrictions on journalists operating in the country. No journalist is allowed to work in Zimbabwe without written permission from the state. Radio and television are also under government control. The government-approved Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe is responsible for granting licenses to independent and commercial broadcasters. In terms of the law, BAZ decides whether there is a need to introduce new players into the industry and recommends potential licensees to the government. But BAZ has been dragging its feet, and many suspect it is doing so at the behest of the government.
The regulatory body was established after the Supreme Court deemed a government monopoly on broadcasting services unconstitutional. But several attempts to start radio stations have been thwarted by state harassment. Government has also made it clear it will not grant commercial radio licenses to foreign investors. To circumvent internal repression, a shortwave radio station, beaming programs into Zimbabwe was launched in the United Kingdom three years ago by former employees of the government-controlled ZBC. The station has angered the government as it gives airtime to opposition spokesmen, something that’s unheard of in Zimbabwe. One group that was refused a license came up with an innovative way of conveying its message to the public three years ago. Called the Bulawayo Dialogue, it ‘broadcasts’ its programs by cassettes that were distributed twice a week in residential districts of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city. The programs were in Shona and Ndebele – both local languages – and English, and included music, interviews and discussions on political and economic issues. The group described it as ‘information empowerment’ and did not believe they were breaking the law since broadcasting regulations did not make any reference to the use of audio cassettes.
Despite these problems in Zimbabwe, Zambia is pointing the way for Zimbabwe to turn in a new direction. A Freedom of Information bill is before the Zambian parliament. A lawmaker instrumental in introducing the bill has said he believed the bill had support among his colleagues and that there were enough safeguards to allay government fears for national security. The bill, if passed into law, would allow journalists and ordinary members of the public to access state information. It would also compel state officials to release information being sought, and it would enable a petitioner to take the matter to court should the official refuse. Journalists and other members of civil society believe easy access of information for the public will help government win the battle against corruption, one of the biggest problems in Africa.
The democratization process in Africa, especially the fall of apartheid in South Africa, has made it possible for cross-border media ownership. Nigerian and Zimbabwean investors now own newspapers in South Africa, taking advantage of the unrestricted media environment, and more are expected to follow. South African newspaper owners, like other businesses in the Republic, are going north, establishing and buying into existing newspaper titles. But perhaps the biggest media organization on the continent is a South African satellite television station based in Johannesburg, which broadcasts sports, information programs and music in English, French and Portuguese into the rest of Africa. Some Africans are wary of this new development, regarding it as a new type of colonialism. Media repression in Africa could soon be a thing of the past. But unequal access to information may perpetuate or even exacerbate the inequalities in society.