Harare - The licensing of state-aligned companies to run eight new commercial radio stations showed that the freeing-up of the country's airwaves was "a charade", a media watchdog in Zimbabwe said on Wednesday.
"The licensing of the new stations has simply amounted to the expansion of the media that are directly under state control and associated with the ruling elite," said the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in Zimbabwe.
On Tuesday the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe said it had licensed five companies to run eight new urban-based radio stations.