By Munashe Evans Tembo

Harare — International Development partners have expressed guarded support for Zimbabwe’s media reform efforts, offering conditional technical and capacity-building assistance towards the implementation of the newly launched Zimbabwe Media Policy. 

Delivering solidarity messages at the 2025 Annual Media Stakeholders Conference held in Harare in November 2025, development partners, including the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Media Support (IMS), expressed cautious optimism on media reforms prescribed in the newly launched Zimbabwe Media Policy.     

Al-Amin Yusuph, who represented UNESCO at the Conference, described the newly launched media policy as “an important guide” for strengthening the media sector, expressing that UNESCO remains committed to working with national stakeholders in the progressive implementation of the policy. Yusuph’s remarks reflected UNESCO’s typical approach of diplomatic praise paired with practical support in key areas such as policy alignment, journalism safety, digital literacy and gender-responsive newsroom practices.

Wonder Jekemu of SIDA reaffirmed the agency’s partnership with Zimbabwe’s media sector, emphasizing gender equality, media freedom, protection of journalists, and digital rights as core policy issues that need to be addressed in the newly launched media policy.

Simbiso Marimbe of International Media Support (IMS) highlighted its ongoing work in strengthening sustainability, innovation, and professional standards in Zimbabwean newsrooms. 

SIDA, UNESCO and IMS seemed cautious with respect to giving unconditional endorsement for the newly launched media policy. Their tone suggested that a full international backing of the Zimbabwe Media Policy is contingent upon an uncompromised upholding of communication and media rights and freedoms provided for in Section 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. 

With the Zimbabwe Media Policy bringing together multiple pieces of legislation that include the Freedom of Information Act, Cyber and Data Protection Act and the Broadcasting Services Act among others, cautious optimism expressed by international development partners emanates from how some of these pieces of legislation contain some legal provisions that violate media and communication rights and freedoms.  

Media advocacy bodies such as MISA-Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), and the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ), contend that some statutory provisions in pieces of legislation that constitute the Zimbabwe Media Policy are in violation of constitutionally guaranteed communication rights and media freedoms including freedom of expression, the right of access to information and freedom of the media.

MISA-Zimbabwe has raised concern over the Broadcasting Services Act, which grants the Minister extensive discretionary powers to issue, suspend, or cancel broadcasting licences. These broad licensing controls have long been criticised for enabling the Executive arm of government to influence which broadcasters operate, often silencing independent and investigative outlets. The lack of independent oversight and vague criteria for licensing decisions has created a regulatory environment that undermines media diversity.

The Freedom of Information Act offers a more progressive element within the country’s media policy framework. Designed to promote transparency, it obliges public institutions to release information needed for accountability and public scrutiny. Yet its impact is often limited by bureaucratic delays, non-compliance, or selective release of information, which frustrates journalists seeking timely access to public records.

Additional constraints arise from the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, particularly Section 33—which criminalises “undermining the authority of the President”—and Section 31, which penalises publishing statements deemed prejudicial to the state. Human-rights organisations such as the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) warn that these provisions discourage robust political reporting, as journalists often avoid topics that might expose them to prosecution, even when the issues are of clear public interest.

Together, these laws create a media environment defined by uneven reform, competing policy objectives, and a persistent fear of legal retaliation. While instruments like the Freedom of Information Act point toward openness, the broader media policy framework continues to impose restrictions on how journalists gather information and report on matters of national importance.

Stakeholders argue that unless the legal provisions that violate media and communication rights and freedoms are done away with, the newly launched Zimbabwe Media policy’s vision of a free and inclusive media environment may not be realised.