Forced Fees, Forgotten Freedoms: Zimbabwe's ZBC License Scandal

Why the nation's quiet acceptance of a colonial relic signals a dangerous path for its future?

The silence and passivity with which Zimbabwe has received the ridiculous and forced ZBC Radio License reveal the extent to which we have become individualistic and selfish as a nation. The majority is silently telling itself, "Let them have it; what is $30 per term? I can afford it."

This situation would have been an opportune moment for all motorists to park their vehicles and send a clear message to the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) that such insane announcements are not welcome. Why not stay off the roads and leave them with their license for a day or two?

Why does standing together as a nation matter? It's precisely when we fail to rise together to show our frustration with the GoZ on how it treats us, and to call for caution regarding their ridiculous license.

For the benefit of those who might not understand the controversy surrounding the ZBC Radio License, At its core, this is a colonial-era license that made sense then to finance the only national broadcaster; back then, it was a necessity. Thirty years later, with the advent of the internet, smartphones, and social media, coupled with the deterioration of the economy, gross maladministration at ZBC, and the monopolisation of the state broadcaster by the ruling party, people began to question why the license was even necessary. Moreover, with smartphones and DStv providing far better avenues for information, people stopped paying the license and faced the torment and persecution of a brutal police force. For those who could afford it, most chose to pay the $10 license fee at the time.

Surprisingly, the current government then passed a law forcing all motorists to buy the license together with the ZINARA license—a move that baffled most and sent shockwaves across the country regarding the sanity of our legislators. On July 15th, this law came into effect, and the nation, as expected by the authorities, simply accepted this absurdity of governance. If you are sane, you would question the rationale for this license, if it's not just another one of the GoZ’s scams, much like the passport scam. If they want a just law, why not force all citizens with FM modulators on their smartphones to buy one? Shockingly, the radio license costs more than the ZINARA road license. To make matters worse, ZBC is more of an extension of the ruling party than it is a national broadcaster, with all its programming skewed towards supporting everything the GoZ and ruling party does, regardless of the logic. A state broadcaster is of strategic importance, but can be funded by the state itself through other means. For example, a tax of 0.002030% on airtime or data would be negligible for the user but nationally, it would more than fund the broadcaster compared to the forced license.

This seemingly minor issue is a precursor to what has crippled our nation: the ridiculous punishment of the citizenry over petty issues. What most of us know now and choose to ignore is the misuse and looting that will inevitably happen when these funds are collected.

What's wrong with saying, "This is bad; you can beat us, but that doesn’t make it right"? For years, public and private GoZ decisions have led Zimbabwe to its current state. We are now a laughingstock; our ideas in international forums are diminished when we say we are Zimbabwean. It's not that we don't want to be Zimbabwean, but what is done at a national level by the GoZ is in most cases shameful, and other nationalities look at us with a concerning eye.