27 April 2005
MISA SLAMS "DRACONIAN" SECURITY LAW
Citing the "global fight against terrorism," Botswana's ruling party has rejected calls to abolish little-used national security legislation which the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) says is "draconian" and hinders access to information and press freedom.
Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Minister Phandu Skelemani told the IRIN news agency that it would be unwise to repeal the National Security Act, which was introduced in 1986 in response to the South African government's aggressive polices towards Botswana and other neighbouring countries.
MISA Botswana says the legislation stifles press freedom by forbidding any person from publishing official information without authorisation, and barring media from reporting on Botswana's military.
Since it came into law, the Act has been used to charge seven people, including University of Botswana Professor Kenneth Good, says MISA. Good, an Australian citizen, is currently fighting a deportation order after President Festus Mogae declared in a February 2005 affidavit that Good was a "prohibited immigrant" and a threat to national security.
The order came after Good gave a lecture at the university that criticised Mogae and the state of democracy in the country.
Visit:
- MISA:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/66072/- IRIN News:
http://tinyurl.com/75p29- Report on Botswana:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10128&Valider=OK- Botswana: No model for Africa:
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=199551&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/- State Brings Out Big Guns Against Good:
p://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20050419&i=State_brings_out_big_guns_against_Good
(Image courtesy of UN)