present being allowed to hold rallies in areas that were previously declared as “no-go” areas for the opposition. Welcome as this development is, for a truly democratic election to take place, the opposition should be allowed to build its support base in the years preceding the election, not in a few weeks immediately prior to it. b)Freedom of Expression Considerable effort has been made to ensure that the opposition does not have a voice in the public print media. When The Daily News began publication as Zimbabwe’s only independent daily sympathetic to the opposition, all means, lawful and unlawful, were employed to prevent its publication, including the destruction of its printing presses with a well-placed bomb39. No one has ever been charged for this offence. When such tactics failed to secure the desired result, the Government introduced the Access to Information and Privacy Act that sought to place all journalists and the printed media under stringent controls and regulations. The Daily News was closed in terms of these regulations and remains off the streets prior to the elections. There is thus no daily newspaper available to opposition supporters. Two independent weekly papers remain, but these do not reach the rural areas in any significant number and are largely unaffordable to the rural populace. Apart from The Daily Mirror and its sister paper The Mirror on Sunday, which lean in favour of the ruling party, the only daily newspapers are government-controlled newspapers such as The Herald and The Chronicle. The main Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Mail, is also government-controlled. Accordingly, an important medium through which a voice contrary to that of the government might be heard has been silenced. The SADC guidelines require equal access for all political parties to the state media. The electronic media, particularly radio broadcasting, provides a very powerful medium of communication allowing penetration into remote rural areas and reaching a wide audience, including those who are illiterate. Once again, the Government has ensured that this avenue has been closed to the opposition. Although technically the Government’s erstwhile monopoly of the airwaves has been ruled unconstitutional, it is impossible and impractical to comply with the stringent regulations that were enacted in the wake of this ruling. The regulations require an exorbitant license fee payable in foreign currency and restrict the content of the broadcasts. The opposition is thus reliant on the state-owned electronic media to convey its message. Despite the SADC guidelines, the MDC was refused permission in December 2004 to flight its advertisements. The refusal was said to be on the basis that, since the MDC had adopted the position that it would boycott the elections, it was not entitled to air time. Subsequently, in January 2005, the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet declared that it was “too early” for political parties to begin advertising. ca&issueno=118&format=html 39 See http://www.afrol.com/News2001/zim001_bomb_dailynews.htm 15