Freedom of Expression in Zimbabwe and the Telecommunications Monopoly

In: The international & comparative law quarterly: ICLQ, Band 46, Heft 1, S. 125-134

Abstract

An overall penetration rate of 1.4 main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants,1a waiting period of 14 years for new connections, closure of the waiting list because the number of applicants was too great, a telephone call completion rate of less than 30 per cent,2obsolete equipment, chronic breakdown problems combined with a substandard fault clearance rate; these were some of the features of the "delinquent service" provided by Zimbabwe's State-owned telecommunications monopoly, the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC). InRetrofit (Pvt) Ltdv.Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (Attorney-General intervening)3the question which faced the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe was whether the PTC's statutory monopoly, seen in the context of a system which the PTC itself had conceded was "markedly inadequate to meet the present communication needs of the population",4was an unjustifiable hindrance on the right to free expression.