As if the citizens of that country aren’t burdened enough with an ailing telecommunications system, now their ability to communicate has been limited further with a requirement to pay cell phone providers only in foreign currency.

More than 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s citizens live in abject poverty, ravaged by hunger, economic collapse, AIDS and recently cholera which has killed over 2000 people. The little foreign currency they get goes to getting basics such as food.

As MISA Zimbabwe rightly points out, the demand for payment in foreign currency for mobile phone users means that communication will no longer be affordable, as the majority of Zimbabweans have no access to foreign currency. The few who are still employed are paid in Zimbabwean dollars and the majority have no hope of using a mobile phone at such costs.

Access to mobile phones and other communication tools such as the Internet has therefore become a luxury, accessible only to the privileged few. MISA maintains that communication is a basic human right. The move by the Zimbabwean government should be taken for what it is, another in a series of actions that deny ordinary Zimbabweans their basic human rights.

MISA therefore calls on the Zimbabwean government to reverse this decision and explore other avenues which will not be a burden to the consumer.

Gladys Ramadi
Specialist: Broadcasting and ICTs
Media Institute of Southern Africa
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248016
email:broadcasting@misa.org

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