MultiChoice Zimbabwe is increasing monthly DStv subscription fees from 1 June 2025, although the price of DStv Premium will remain unchanged at $75.
From June DStv Compact Plus is increasing from $45 to $46, DStv Compact is increasing from $30 to $32, and DStv Family is getting an increase from $20 to $21.
The DStv Access package is increased from $15 to $16.
The monthly fees for DStv Lite at $9, the Indian add-on package for DStv Premium at $39, the Indian add-on package for $25, the Portuguese add-on package at $45, and the HD PVR service fee of $13 all remain unchanged.
The TV presenter Zororo Makamba has died as Zimbabwe's second positive Covid-19 case as the novel coronavirus pandemic spreads globally including in South Africa and across Southern Africa.
According to AFP, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) announced that Zororo Makamba has died in the capital of Harare.
Zororo Makamba is the first person in Zimbabwe to officially die from Covid-19 and was treated in isolation in the Wilkins hospital in Harare.
"The minister of health and child care, Dr Obadiah Moyo has confirmed the death of Zororo Makamba, who was the second person to test positive for Covid-19 in Zimbabwe," the ZBC reported.
Zororo Makamba, the son of businessman and co-owner of Telecel Zimbabwe, James Makamba, tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.
He had travelled to New York late last month where he stayed for 20 days and returned to Zimbabwe on 9 March, transiting through Johannesburg to Zimbabwe.
According to Zimbabwe's government Zororo Makamba began to show mild flu-like symptoms on 12 March that progressively worsened. His family said he was also treated for flu-like symptoms in New York. He consulted a doctor in Zimbabwe and was instructed to self-quarantine. He became worse and was hospitalised.
Zororo Makamba had a tumour removed from just under his left lung in November 2019 and was still recovering from this surgery that would take 18 months.
The Wilkins hospital had no ventilators, no plugs for ventilators, no medication, no oxygen and no water according to his family members.
The family says minister Obadiah Moyo blatantly lied to them and the country of Zimbabwe and that the hospital wanted the family to pay US$120 000 for a ventilator and monitor which it wanted to be "donated" and given to the Wilkins hospital for free after it was used for Zororo Makamba.
"People need to know that the Zimbabwe government is ill-prepared for Covid-19 and is not ready to deal with this virus," according to a report in Daily News.
Monica Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe's minister of information publicity and broadcasting services, in a statement says "I have received the news of the passing on of Zororo Makamba with great shock, extreme sadness and a deep sense of shock. He is a victim of the worldwide pandemic that is Covid-19".
"I constantly and continuously worked with Zororo Makamba on his much-watched and greatly appreciated State of the Nation programme on Zimbabwe television."
"He was a young intelligent and dynamic man that infused talent and passion for his work with intense patriotic pride. He always exuded that confidence in the face of daunting challenges. He communicated with promise and hope in the economic prospects of his beloved Zimbabwe."
Zororo Makamba was the host and executive producer of the late night show Tonight with Zororo on the Zambezi Magic channel run by M-Net on MultiChoice Africa's DStv satellite pay-TV service.
He was also the host and executive producer of Point of View with Zororo Makamba, a weekly web based political opinion on YouTube and was one of the judges on the entrepreneur reality show My Own Boss.
Zororo Makamba started his media career at ZiFM Stereo, Zimbabwe's first private radio station where he was the presenter of several current affairs programmes. From radio he made the jump to television with Tonight with Zororo which won the award for Outstanding Screen Production (Television) at the National Arts Merits Awards.
He's also worked in telecoms as the publicist for Telecel Zimbabwe and was a news and broadcasting assistant at United Talent Agency (UTA) in New York.
At the time of his death Zororo Makamba was the director and co-founder of Eleven Dogs Inc., a digital media and broadcasting company.
He had a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Michigan State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Producing (Honours) from the New York Film Academy.
The embattled MultiChoice Zimbabwe is shedding jobs and has started a voluntary retrenchment process as DStv subscribers in the Southern African country continue to plunge amidst ongoing worsening economic conditions.
With the DStv subscriber numbers now at 2010-levels in Zimbabwe, MultiChoice Zimbabwe is getting rid of staffers and has started process of voluntary retrenchments as the customer base shrink as people struggle to pay for DStv and GOtv because they don't have the money, and struggle to pay because of limited payment options and currency problems in the country.
MultiChoice Zimbabwe is a franchise owned by Skynet (Pvt) Ltd. MultiChoice Zimbabwe calls the job losses and downsizing of its staff complement in the country "inevitable".
"Due to the current economic challenges facing Zimbabwe, Skynet has undertaken a comprehensive business evaluation in order to remain sustainable," says Elizabeth Dziva, MultiChoice Zimbabwe's spokesperson.
"The difficult decision to reduce its operating costs will include the offer of voluntary employee retrenchments".
MultiChoice Zimbabwe told staffers that "We have tried to manage and reduce our costs to the bone. We stopped all contract employees, reduced working hours, strict usage of company vehicles among other measures".
"However, our subscriber numbers have reduced to the numbers we were back in 2010. The decline subsists with an adverse trend beyond our control and it appears we are delaying the inevitable."
"MultiChoice mainly depends on subscriber revenue and in turn Ally Property Investments (Pvt) Limited depends on rentals from tenants who are not spared by the economic challenges and Skynet (Pvt) Limited is their major client," said the company.
Zimbabwe plans to launch 24 new TV channels but is silent about how the cash-strapped Southern African country's government or companies getting licences will pay for it while existing TV operators like MultiChoice Zimbabwe is struggling with payment options and to get paid by DStv subscribers.
Part of the 24 new planned TV channels will be run and done by the embattled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Zimbabwe's state broadcaster, as well as by new private companies.
It will be extremely difficult for the struggling ZBC or new private entrants to successfully run anything like additional new TV channels with the country that's notorious for its draconian censorship and harsh laws against media freedom, that has also been marked by a struggling economy for decades.
Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe's secretary for information, publicity and broadcasting services says that Zimbabwe's government "will diversify ownership".
"Licences will not be issued on partisan lines, but it will be open for everyone. The licences will be issued in a transparent manner, but the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, as a public broadcaster, will have a fair share".
Zimbabwe plans to allow foreign ownership in the private new TV channels to be up to 20%, although it's difficult to see any takers given the harsh way that Zimbabwe has treated and are treating private broadcasters in the country, like MultiChoice, going as far as saying that consumers watching DStv are damaging the country and contributing to the country's bad foreign reserves situation.
Zimbabwe says it is working on reforming of the country's draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) to give the public more access to information.
Zimbabwe's naive 24 TV channel pipedream is completely unsustainable and reminds of South Africa's original plan to launch 18 TV channels, which was downscaled to 5.
In September 2011 SABC executives and the SABC board told parliament that the SABC's DTT offering will consist of 18 TV channels - 17 TV channels (which includes SABC1, SABC2, SABC3) and one interactive video service channel - as well as 18 SABC radio stations plus Channel Africa.
Out of the SABC's envisioned DTT plans, only SABC News and SABC Encore (originally called SABC Entertainment) materialised with the SABC unable to do even these channels on its own.
Both channels have been funded and are paid for by the MultiChoice Group and would be shut down by the SABC if not for the money from MultiChoice paid to the South African public broadcaster.
The oppressive Zimbabwe government clamping down on public protests, freedom of speech and news reporting in the struggling Southern African country has deported eNCA (DStv 403) reporter Aldrin Sampear and cameraman Linge Ndabambi.
The two South African journalists working for eMedia Investments' South African TV news channel carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, were deported from Zimbabwe on Friday 18 January after going there to try and cover the unfolding public unrest in the country struggling with massive economic problems and socio-political unrest.
Aldrin Sampear and Linge Ndabambi were deported back to South Africa after they landed at the Robert Mugabe International airport.
Zimbabwe's shocking deportation of the South African press comes amidst ongoing reports of shocking violence from armed Zimbabwean security forces trying to quell protest action by the Zimbabwean public angry over runaway inflation, dramatic currency devaluations, and unaffordable petrol increases in a week that saw the government cut off access to the internet and social media.
In a statement, the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (Maz), representing a group of different media outlets in the country, "The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe is appalled at the decision by the government of Zimbabwe to deport two South African journalists on the morning of 18 January 2019".
"The deportation of the foreign journalists comes on the backdrop of the second directive by the government to completely shut down the internet in response to widespread citizens' demonstrations, violent protests and a heavy-handed state response that has plunged the country into crisis."
"The deliberate and drastic actions that the Zimbabwe government is taking to ensure a total information blackout are fuelling the obtaining crisis in the country."
"Maz, therefore, reiterates its calls for the government to respect citizens' constitutionally-guaranteed rights to free expression, access to information and to media freedom."
"Zimbabwe is a democratic and open society. It is prudent that government realises that barring foreign media or blocking the internet only serves to further isolate the country and will scuttle any plans to re-engage with the world," Maz said.
While South Africa's rand is a stronger currency against the dollar and has been more resilient against the greenback that the currency of several other African nations, MultiChoice Africa decreased the DStv subscription fees in the past few months in several other African countries.
In contrast MultiChoice South Africa keeps increasing overall DStv subscription fees in South Africa every year - its biggest subscriber base market.
Now for 2018, it appears so far as if South Africa is going to be the only Southern African market in which MultiChoice operates its DStv satellite pay-TV service, where it will be upping its monthly DStv subscription fees this year.
MultiChoice Zimbabwe and MultiChoice Swaziland have both been very quick to respond that in these countries DStv subscribers won't see a similar increase in 2018, with more Southern African nations - Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia - who could possibly follow.
Swazi Observer reporter Fortune Ndlangamandlablatantly plagiarised and stole large chunks of my orginal reporting by stealing through a copy-and-paste job what I wrote first about South Africa's DStv subscriber fee increase, but did add an originally sourced response from MultiChoice Swaziland saying it won't be hiking DStv fees there.
Dumsile Masuku, MultiChoice Swaziland publicist said about MultiChoice South Africa's DStv price hike that "What they do is irrelevant to us. We know nothing about the price hikes".
MultiChoice Zimbabwe told told TechZim that DStv subscription fees will remain the same in 2018.
"While we can confirm that Multichoice South Africa will increase DStv prices in South Africa, it’s worth noting that MultiChoice Africa is a seperate business unit that operates independently."
"In the past two years, we haven’t increased DStv subscription prices for our customers in Zimbabwe – and in fact, we’ve decreased some package prices and added exciting premium content across various packages as part of our priority to put customers in the heart of everything we do."
"Should there be any changes to DStv subscription prices in Zimbabwe, we will inform our customers accordingly."
Trash South African police shockingly interfered and blocked the South African media from reporting freely - although the right to freedom of speech is enshrined in South Africa's Constitution - when the South African Police Service (SAPS) blocked a reporting and camera crew of the SABC's SABC News from doing a report from the Beitbridge border crossing.
An SABC News crew reported from the Beitbridge border crossing on Friday morning, alongside other South African TV news crews, covering one angle of the unfolding military coup happening in Zimbabwe.
An incompetent and clueless South African police officer shocking put his cap over a SABC News camera, during a live report on SABC News (DStv 404) - blacking out the visuals as SABC News reporter Mike Maringa and camera woman Vanessa Langa valiantly tried to do their job as journalists.
It's not clear why South Africa has trash police on active duty who are not aware of the rules barring them from interfering with the press and their reporting.
South African journalists and the media are allowed to report freely from any public domain and the South African Police Service (SAPS) is not allowed to interfere - let alone black out reporting and blatantly harassing and trying to censor the press.
The South African police needs to leave the SABC and SABC journalists, trying to do their jobs, alone.
"We are having a problem. Police officers have just closed our view. We'll have to cut it short. They are saying we are not allowed to be filming at the border gate," SABC News reporter Mike Maringa reported live while the police tried to block him.
Mike Maringa was standing in a public space while the South African police idiot put his cap across the SABC News camera lens.
Now the South African Police Services (SAPS) is describing its illegal interference in freedom of speech and harassing the press as "isolated".
"The provincial management of the South African Police Services in Limpopo has taken note of the incident that took place on Friday morning in which our members were apparently seen manhandling journalists of the SABC during the Morning Live programme at Beitbridge Border Post," says province police commander commissioner lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba in a statement.
"We condemn the actions of these members and would like to take this opportunity to assure members of the community in general and the SABC, in particular, that the police are not in any way mandated to harass or manhandle any member of the media".
According to province police commander commissioner lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba the South African police has "a sound working relationship with journalists from all media houses" - just not when they put their police caps over the cameras of TV news crews during live reports.
"We apologise unreservedly and we respect the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa with all its limitations and we have the responsibility of protecting all citizens, including journalists," says province police commander commissioner lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba.
"We however, regard what happened this morning as an isolated incident which does not represent the general behaviour of members of the South African Police Service".
Sadly that is the general behaviour that South African and African viewers got to see on SABC News on Friday morning during the live crossing.
Province police commander commissioner lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba said the South African Police Service will "conduct an internal investigation into the matter with a view of taking corrective measures".
Province police commander commissioner lieutenant general Nneke Ledwaba didn't name the police officer who tried to censor the SABC News reporting, and didn't say whether the person has been suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing.
The SABC condemned the South African Police Service's harassment of the SABC News crew.
"The SABC condemns these police actions with the contempt it deserves," SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyagotold News24.
"These actions are shocking as the police are supposed to be protecting citizens and journalists."
"It must be emphasised that these unfortunate events happened after our news crew was granted permission to film on the basis that they will do crossings and conduct interviews outside the border gate," said Kaizer Kganyago.
CNN International (DStv 401) proved by far the best on Wednesday on the African continent as TV news scrambled to cover the breaking and evolving news story of the military coup in Zimbabwe of the decrepit dictator Robert Mugabe.
As South Africa's unprepared and inept TV news channels eNCA (DStv 403), SABC News (DStv 404) and ANN7 (DStv 405) lurched to try and put some semblance of Zimbabwe coverage on, CNN International, Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) and Sky News News (DStv 402) ran circles around South African TV news channels who awkwardly proved incapable of measuring up.
After years of budget cuts, closing news bureaux, cutting coverage and decimating its once capable African staff, eMedia Investment's eNCA came off as worst on Wednesday, putting up the thin semblance of that "trying to" coverage that is more expected of its lame duck counterparts SABC News and ANN7.
While Al Jazeera has a bureau in Zimbabwe, and with CNN International's David McKenzie reporting live from Harare and doing packages for various dayparts and shows across CNN International, it made the wanna-cover coverage on eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 seem utterly awful and embarrassing.
eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 reported from non-near Zimbabwe places that worsened the "look, we're not actually there" effect and kept reporting news that ordinary news consumers could find as fast and consume directly, as what the TV news channels did from the same online news reporting and publications.
The constantly trying to play catch-up coverage on eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 was cringe-worthy to behold.
Wednesday's fail leading to fail Zimbabwe coverage from South African TV news channels underscored exactly just how much they're not prepared, not budgeted and are not geared towards even remotely being able to cover big political and other breaking news in other Southern African countries bordering South Africa.
Even the struggle to find analysts and commentators revealed how awful South Africa's TV news channels actually are when it comes to big, international breaking news with a Southern African angle.
Once again CNN International, Sky News and other channels ran circles around eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 as influential and big names were quickly booked, linked up and appeared - some from inside Zimbabwe - on international TV news channels.
It all helped to worsen the "kindergarden" effect of eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 rummaging around for some semblance of Zimbabwe coverage relevance.
This is what you get after years of reducing instead of growing, cutting back instead of expanding, cocooning instead of reaching out and networking, and isolating yourself instead of setting up bureaus when you're a TV news channel but doesn't want to do what the mere existence as a TV news channel requires.
eNCA, SABC News and laughably bad ANN7 are not going to catch up tomorrow, the weekend or next week on Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe news and coverage. And that's sad.
Like the Southern Cape fire devastation earlier this year where eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 also looked shameful in its terribly bad and non-existent coverage, they can't simply flip a switch on Thursday and have their Zimbabwe coverage go from the flimsy superficial and reading wire services alerts on television to in-dept, on the ground and incisive reporting.
They've done little to improve and build newsroom systems that's responsive, able to act and mobilise any time of the day and to get reporters and camera crews to breaking news flash points in South Africa and Southern Africa.
They're likely going to continue to be shamed and embarrassed for doing "radio on television" when these big events occur because it's the most they've ever been able to be, and what they've been reduced to.
Both CNN International and Sky News in just 2017 have done more reports from inside Zimbabwe and from the South African side of the Zimbabwe border with David McKenzie and Alex Crawford than eNCA, SABC News and ANN7 combined.
That is absolutely great for CNN International and Sky News and prop up their credibility and viewers' belief that these are TV news channels they can instantly tune to when news happens there.
The terrible opposite holds true for eNCA, SABC News and ANN7, shining in mediocrity reading news reports under the safe and warm glow of comfy Johannesburg studios lights.
Congratulations to CNN International for fast mobilisation, having built networks and contacts, having gone and having kept going and being able to instantly depend on handlers and others to gain access and to report.
It's sad that in 2017 South Africa has three local TV news channels who would say they want to be and are news channels, but are not actually willing to put money, resources and on the ground original reporting behind what is core to what makes a real TV news channel be one.
MultiChoice is being sued by a Zimbabwe lawyer, asking the country's high court to compel the satellite pay-TV service to accept other forms of payment besides American dollar as more and more cash-strapped Zimbabweans are struggling to pay their DStv subscriptions.
The past few months have been extremely tough on MultiChoice Zimbabwe as well as on DStv subscribers in Zimbabwe after the Zimbabean government, through Zimbabwe's reserve bank, has started to put the squeeze on pay-TV subscribers that it blames for Zimbabwe's worsening foreign reserves and forex outflows.
Zimbabwe has added DStv subscribers in the struggling Southern African country to the list of "evil-doers" supposedly damaging its economy with their "illogical behaviour", since they're paying for television services in dollar that flows out of the country, instead of buying - as the reserve bank recommends - "raw material to make cooking oil for the nation".
Almost all payment options for DStv subscribers in Zimbabwe have now disappeared with payment processing providers announcing one after the other that they simply can't continue to process DStv payments that must be made in American dollar.
As it became more difficult for DStv subscribers to make payments, the forex clampdown has been having a devastating effect on MultiChoice Zimbabwe the past 5 months with the Zimbabwean operation of MultiChoice Africa that is operated as a franchise in the southern African country.
In July, MultiChoice Zimbabwe in a statement said that DStv services are not being suspended and that all the DStv bouquets remain available. What MultiChoice Zimbabwe isn't saying, is how ordinary Zimbabwe citizens are expected to pay for their DStv in the face of dwindling payment options.
Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper reports that the Harare lawyer James Majatame is now taking MultiChoice Zimbabwe, run by Skynet Private Limited, to court, to compel the pay-TV provider to accept other forms of payment.
He wants DStv Zimbabwe to accept bank card payments, EcoCash transfers, bank transfers and bond notes as payment for DStv subscriptions and filed a court application on Wednesday in Harare.
In the application James Majatame alleges that "MultiChoice's conduct of refusing to accept subscriptions by way of swipe, EcoCash, bank transfer, bond notes and coins, preferring United States dollar only, is unlawful."
"Cash in US dollar is now a scare commodity. The conduct by the respondent of demanding US dollars only for its DStv services promotes black market [illegal trade], which is more averse to our country and economy".
MultiChoice says the operations of its satellite pay-TV service in Zimbabwe is still operational and that the full set of DStv bouquets offered remains available.
It comes as the Zimbabwean government and Zimbabwe's Reserve bank, battling with an ongoing outflow of cash and a lack of adequate foreign reserves, is making it harder and harder for ordinary Zimbabweans to afford - and now to pay for - services like the subscription TV services offered by MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv.
The Zimbabwean government, through the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank is continuing to clamp down on money leaving the country and in February slammed Zimbabwean citizens for their "illogal behaviour" of wanting to subscribe and pay for DStv.
Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank said Zimbabwe citizens who want DStv and pay for it, are part of creating an "unsustainable" situation and that they should rather spend money on raw materials to make cooking oil for the nation.
Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank said DStv subscribers in the country's struggling economy are worsening Zimbabwe's foreign exchange situation, since DStv subscription payments are a big cause money leaving the country.
Since late-2016 several payment options for DStv subscribers in Zimbabwe simply disappeared with payment processing providers announcing that they simply can't continue to process DStv payments.
As it became more difficult for DStv subscribers to make payments, the forex clampdown has been having a devastating effect on MultiChoice Zimbabwe the past four months with the Zimbabwean operation of MultiChoice Africa that is operated as a franchise in the southern African country.
Two weeks ago Zimbabwe's Steward Bank - a unit of mobile telephony operator Econet Wireless - announced that also is suspending DStv payments, citing the unavailability of foreign currency.
Steward Bank will now only process payments for DStv Premium subscribers, MultiChoice's top-tier and most expensive bouquet.
ANN7 reported that "most Zimbabwean MultiChoice subscribers will likely be disconnected" because they can't pay their DStv fees.
ANN7 reported that according to a source, "clever Zimbabweans are now paying theirs satellite TV bills in South Africa".
On Wednesday MultiChoice said reports that MultiChoice Zimbabwe is cutting its services in Zimbabwe isn't true.
"Rumours circulating in Zimbabwe to the effect that DStv services to the country are being suspended are wholly inaccurate, and the set of DStv bouquets available to Zimbabwean viewers remain on offer," said Liz Dziva, MultiChoice Zimbabwe publicity manager.
"DStv services to viewers across Zimbabwe remain on offer."
■ Dishing dirt on Awful Park:
The rot at the SABC is finally being exposed - choice quotes from parliament's ongoing SABC investigation.
■ Nigeria's Ndani TV has burnt down.
The online TV channel in Lagos, Nigeria saw its Ndani Studio go up in flames over the weekend, billions feared lost - including already filmed new seasons of shows, as well as back-up copies.
■ BEST TV story headline this year: "Trolls worse than zombies," says The Walking Dead star.
Of course actor Josh McDermitt of The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) is talking about internet and social media shamers.
File this one in that can't-make-it-up category: The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank has the bizarre audacity to slam Zimbabweans for subscribing to, and paying for, DStv - calling Zimbabwean consumers' pay-for-TV behaviour "illogical" and unsustainable on the Zimbabwe economy.
The bank's restrictive stance on money leaving the country is raising fears on two front - firstly for MultiChoice Africa and MultiChoice Zimbabwe trying to do business in the struggling Zimbabwe economy, and secondly for ordinary Zimbabwean consumers who just want better television and who are prepared to pay for it but might soon not be able to.
Struggling Zimbabwean consumers, looking for entertainment, escapism and connectivity to a bigger world and trying to subscribe to DStv already saw their payment options for DStv subscriptions dwindle the past few months.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank's statement through governor of the reserve bank, John Mangudya is raising anxiety that it's going to somehow clamp down on DStv subscribers - driving DStv subscriber numbers down by targeting the payment options available to them.
The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank is upset that Zimbabwean consumers dare to watch DStv and pay for something like it, when they're supposed to buy "local" things like cooking oil.
The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank in its January 2017 monetary statement (find it on pages 62 and 63) says Zimbabwe consumers paying for DStv and thereby allowing foreign exchange to leave the embattled Southern African country, is doing an illogical thing.
Zimbabweans spent U$206.7 million on DStv subscription payments and credit card payments during the second half of 2016 between July and December and Zimbabwe's central bank doesn't like it at all.
The bank says in its statement that the "wasted" money "should have been preserved as foreign exchange for raw materials and other foreign payments that include education". "Use of hard-earned foreign currency in this manner is not sustainable for the economy".
"Spending more foreign exchange on DStv subscriptions rather than on raw materials to produce cooking oil, for example, is not only counter-productive but also illogical."
In short it means that the bank says that DStv Zimbabwe as a business and DStv subscribers in that country paying for it, are worsening Zimbabwe's already extreme cash shortage.
In a normal economy and a real democracy, consumers are allowed to spend and use their discretionary income as they wish as long as it's not illegal. Sadly in Zim, even DStv is now bad according to its big bank.
The use of Visa credit cards outside of Zimbabwe has already been disabled without prior warning and Econet Wireless has also been forced to stop payments for DStv subscriptions in Zimbabwe in American dollar through its mobile money platform EcoCash.
Many Zimbabweans now have to convert their money into South African rand and do payment that way, but there's also amount limits being imposed, making this option increasingly more difficult and almost impossible as well.
The Zimbabwe government probably thinks bank ATMs are more entertaining that watching DStv.
That must be the reason why Zimbabwean consumers have been limited by the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank in the amount of their money they can withdraw as cash at ATMs per day.
That way, Zimbabweans can experience better entertainment, standing in long queues and enjoying wasting hours of time, trying to get to the front to make withdrawals.
Zim is ripe for entertaining local TV shows but the local Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation probably won't bite.
An international jetset reality shopping show for Grace could work - maybe even The Great Zimbabwe Bake Off in which she and competitors try their hand at doing lavish birthday cakes for old Bob.
Or what about Desperate Housewives of Harare or Million Dollar Listing Bulawayo? Maybe Fear Factor Zimbabwe would reflect current sentiment the best.
As Zimbabweans TV viewers are set to lose SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and e.tv most probably from the end of this month when South Africa's signal distributor Sentech has to take steps from preventing the unencoding TV channel's broadcasting signals from being available in the neighbouring country, Zimbabwe just got a new pay TV operator - and it's offering looks very much like something South African TV viewers will know.
My TV which was licensed by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe last month has started a subscription TV service in the country as an alternative to MultiChoice's DStv - and looks very much like TopTV in South Africa.
My TV Africa is actually a Lebanon company but has its pay TV service now being run in Zimbabwe (as it has been elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa such as Nigeria, Zambia and Botswana) through an agent company. My TV Zimbabwe is now trying to offer a cheaper pay TV alternative to MultiChoice's DStv. Subscribers have to buy a PVR decoder for $80 (R671).
Subscribers can then get the minimum My TV bouquet for $22 (R185) per month which has 18 TV channels. Fox International Channels (FIC) will have reason to smile. Fox is extending its presence with the Fox Entertainment channel - available on TopTV in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa - now available on My TV. FX Movie Network is another FIC channel which is on the My TV Zimbabwe channel line-up.
Other channels range from BBC World News and Al Jazeera to KidsCo, Fine Living network (FLN), Setanta Africa, Trace, Baby TV and National Geographic Adventure. Just like TopTV, My TV doesn't have any sport channels - the most costly type of programming to procure.
