operated LM Radio, based in Mozambique, then under Portuguese rule. Following the dissolution of the FBC in 1964, the Government of Southern Rhodesia attempted to take control of RTV through the RBC, whose chairman, J.M. Helliwell, announced that the RBC would acquire all shares in RTV, "at a price agreed upon by both parties". This prompted criticism by MPs, one of whom, Vernon Brelsford, moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly deploring the proposed acquisition. He asked: "Does it actually run the programmes to make sure that only its point of view is put over and no one else's is?". Prime Minister Ian Smith argued that control of television was necessary for "winning the war for the minds of men", and would save it from falling into the hands of "communist sympathisers". However, the government's move was rejected by RTV's directors. Instead, the RBC initially acquired a 51 per cent stake in the service, which became part of the RBC in 1976. RBC TV was funded by advertising and a television licence fee. Television reception was confined mainly to the cities and largest towns, and most viewers were whites. Umtali (now Mutare) only received television in 1972, by which time it was estimated that more than 90 per cent of the white population had access to the service. By 1973, RTV was broadcasting 42 hours a week from three transmitters, and 61 716 combined radio and television licences had been issued. Unilateral Declaration of Independence In November 1965, the white minority government of Ian Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, under which censorship of broadcasting and the press was imposed, and key posts at the RBC were gradually filled by supporters of the ruling Rhodesian Front party. The previous year, the Deputy Minister of Information, P. K. van der Byl, described the aims of his Ministry as "not merely to disseminate information from an interesting point of view but to play its part in fighting the propaganda battle on behalf of the country". In response, the RBC Director General, James Neill, resigned, citing political interference. On 1 January 1965, the RBC had ceased to relay the morning world news bulletin from the BBC, and replaced it with a bulletin from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). However, afternoon and evening news relays of the BBC remained unchanged. The British Government, which had denounced UDI as illegal, began broadcasting BBC