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Alert

MISA annual meeting highlights ongoing media freedom and free expression violations in region

(MISA/IFEX) - The following is a MISA communiqué:

MISA AGM highlights ongoing media freedom and free expression violations in SADC region

The 2006 Annual General Meeting of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), which concluded at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa on September 5, 2006, expressed grave concern about the ongoing violations of media freedom and freedom of expression perpetuated in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

MISA delegates, drawn from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, noted the following:

The withdrawal of the Draft Broadcasting Policy by the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology in Botswana, has brought about questions as to whether a conservative parliament is holding democracy at ransom. The major concern of parliamentarians, that community radio will bring untold divisions to the country, is unfounded and unacceptable.

Currently Botswana, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are the only SADC countries without community broadcasting services. This does not auger well for the democratic credentials that have been credited to these countries.

MISA calls on SADC governments to relinquish control of the national broadcasters and transform them into public service broadcasters in the service of the citizenry.

Whilst Zambia has shown much progress in terms of enacting positive legislation in the public broadcasting sector, a lack of political will has largely hampered the implementation of such legislation. We call upon the government of Zambia to honour the decision of the High Court and to proceed with the implementation of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Amendment Act and Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act, as is the will of the people.

Similarly in 2002, the Zambian government withdrew the Freedom of Information Bill. We strongly appeal to the government to recall this bill, enact it, and ensure that Zambian citizens can freely access information held by public authorities.

Attempts in other SADC countries to enact similar legislation on access to information are being hampered by a lack of political will. This is the case in Lesotho, Malawi and Namibia.

South Africa's Minister of Home Affairs' recent proposal to amend the Film and Publications Act is an obvious attempt to exercise pre-censorship of the media. A delegation consisting of MISA South Africa, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) and the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef), last week made a presentation to the Home Affairs ministry to underscore that the media in South Africa is already regulated by the Press Ombudsman, the Independent Communications Authority of Southern Africa (Icasa) and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, which hold the media accountable for ethical and other breaches of their codes of conduct.

In addition, MISA South Africa last week strongly condemned the destruction of pictures of President Thabo Mbeki taken by Beeld newspaper photographers as he was entering a cardiac clinic. This is the second time that bodyguards have acted in a highhanded manner despite assurances by the cabinet that there is no intention to muzzle the press.

The operating environment for the media in Swaziland continues to be adversely affected by the restrictive laws and political pressure which engenders a climate of fear for media practitioners and their subsequent self censorship to the detriment of Swazi society. The government of Swaziland is called upon to immediately commence upon a consultative process of law reform to enact media-related legislation in a manner that promotes freedom of expression and the press, particularly as this freedom is recognised in Section 24 of the new Swaziland constitution.

The Interception of Communications Bill, currently being reviewed by Zimbabwe's Parliamentary Legal Committee, is a highly intrusive form of legislation that is vague, lacks sound justification, is unconstitutional and should never be allowed to pass in Zimbabwe. MISA urges the parliament of Zimbabwe not to pass this legislation.

On the broadcasting front, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is in contempt of parliament, as it continues to ignore calls for issuing of broadcasting licences. Since its inception through the Broadcasting Services Act five years ago, the BAZ to date has not issued a single licence.