Harare - The door to independent media in Zimbabwe opened a crack on Thursday for the first time in 31 years of President Robert Mugabe's rule, when his broadcasting authority invited applications to set up radio stations.

The advertisement in the state-run press called for applications for licences for two national commercial radio services. The move is seen as the result of pressure on Mugabe by his southern African neighbours to introduce wide-ranging political reforms in the two-year-old coalition government with pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabweans have been restricted to state radio and television tightly controlled by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, which are seen as propaganda voices for Mugabe that, among other things, have incited violence against his opponents.

"This is a welcome development," said Andrew Moyse, co-ordinator of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe. "But I suspect new stations will still be constrained by broadcasting regulations, and they will limit the capacity of people to apply for licences."

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) notice said applicants would have to pay $10 000 to apply and another $15 000 a year for a 10-year licence.

Mugabe signed up to a coalition agreement which obliged him to establish a broadcasting authority to process new radio and television stations, but BAZ is only now calling for applications.

"Why only two national radio stations?" Moyse asked. "Why no community radio stations? There are several that have been set up, and have been waiting for years to be able to apply for a licence. And why no television stations? Because it is the most potent form of communication."

Last year, the government lifted restrictions on newspapers, and urban areas now boast three outspoken national newspapers that daily challenge Mugabe's autocracy.

State radio limited

But observers point out that newspapers are relatively expensive, while state radio has had a vast potential to hold a captive audience throughout the country.

"It's a most powerful tool to brainwash and keep people ignorant, and Mugabe knows that," said a Western diplomat.

Analysts point out that the state-run radio service is so run down as to cover only 30% of the country, while the sole television service is so dreary, most urban people erect satellite dishes to take relatively cheap commercial services from South African channels.

On Wednesday, the Media Institute of Southern Africa called on Mugabe's administration to loosen the "stranglehold" on radio and television services, and pointed out that Zimbabwe and Eritrea were the only states in Africa where independent radio and television were banned.

BAZ is controlled by Tafataona Mahoso, nicknamed Zimbabwe's "media hangman" after he banned several newspapers since 2000 and rejected licenses for scores of journalists.

Mugabe is listed by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists among the world's 10 most hostile opponents to a free media.

By SAPA