The new payment system has seen mobile phone
service providers that include NetOne and Telecell charging in
United States dollars after being granted foreign currency licenses
by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. It is feared that the new system
will adversely affect the communication needs of the majority
of Zimbabweans who are already struggling to make ends meet in
a hyperinflationary environment which has spawned untold economic
hardships on the populace.
Econet Wireless corporate communications manager Rangarirai Mberi
attributed the disruption in services to major network upgrading
which has disrupted the entire network system. MISA Zimbabwe
notes with great concern that this latest development comes in
the wake of the appalling state of fixed and mobile telephone
networks in Zimbabwe which has seen subscribers failing to communicate
as and when they desire despite the high tariff charges.
MISA-Zimbabwe shares the concerns of subscribers who say they
will not be able to afford the new payment mode as the little
foreign currency they can lay their hands on is reserved for
basic commodities which are now being sold in foreign currency
by most retail outlets. While supermarkets and other service
providers are now charging in foreign currency, the majority
of workers are still being paid in the ever increasingly valueless
Zimbabwean dollar.
Equally worrying is that this development comes on the backdrop
of Econet’s November 6, 2008 statement announcing the withdrawal
of its contract line services for clients under the Business
Partna scheme as of 10 November 2008, a move which has left thousands
of Zimbabweans deprived of their right to communicate.
MISA Zimbabwe reiterates its earlier concern that this state of affairs in the
telecommunications industry is a serious impediment on the right of the people
of Zimbabwe to communicate; as well as their right to freedom of expression as
guaranteed in Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
This right includes the ability and access to usage of tools of communication
such as the internet, fixed telephones and mobile telephone networks by ordinary
people, as emphasized by the World Summit on Information Societies (WSIS) held
in Tunis, Tunisia 2005.
In light of these universally accepted principles, MISA Zimbabwe urges the fixed
and mobile telephone service providers as well as the Postal and Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to act with the full understanding
that communication is a human right and not a privilege and that telecommunications
remain key pillars of freedom of expression and access to information.
We therefore appeal to the service providers to seriously reconsider the impact
of their decisions in view of the fundamental right of citizens to exercise their
right to freedom of expression and access to information.
Rashweat Mukundu
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring
MISA Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: + 264 61 232 975
Fax:+264 61 248016
Mobile: 00 264 813 675 362
E mail rashweat@misa.org, misaalerts@gmail.com
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