allAfrica.com: Southern Africa: SADC Sliding Down Media Freedom Scale (Page 1 of 2)

THE Media Institute of Southern Africa, a regional media and freedom of expression advocacy organisation, based in Windhoek and working through national chapters in 11 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries joins the rest of the world in marking the World Press Freedom Day on Saturday.

MISA commemorates May 3 under the theme "Press Freedom, Access to Information and empowering the people." This theme captures all we expect from our media, and the role our governments should play in promoting media and freedom of expression rights.

The 2008 World Press Freedom Day comes at a time when the enjoyment and respect for media and freedom of expression rights in Southern Africa is on the slide.

We mark May 3 under the shadow of a crisis in Zimbabwe and the deterioration of media freedoms throughout the region notably in Lesotho, Angola and Swaziland.

May 3 comes at a time when the international spotlight is once again on Southern Africa, home to some of the world's archaic and repressive media environments with Zimbabwe taking the lead.

We mark May 3 with mixed feelings, while we have made substantive strides since the Windhoek declaration in 1991, the last three years have witnessed a steady deterioration of media freedom, reminiscent of Africa's one party state era of the 70's and early 80s, characterised by the suppression of the basic fundamental rights of freedom of expression, assembly and human dignity.

The southern Africa envisaged in the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 is a far cry from the arrests, beatings, torture and detention of journalists and the general repression of freedom of expression that are characteristic of Zimbabwe and the region today. The democracy we fought for so hard is not the model we have witnessed in Zimbabwe and Angola where the state rules with absolute impunity, with no respect for the rule of law and total disregard of the will of the people.

The SADC leadership we envisaged 10 years ago is a far cry from what we have today, where some of our leaders sacrifice their morality and integrity in the face of unspeakable human suffering and state decay in Zimbabwe. Southern Africa is a region at a cross roads, with a choice to regress or move with the rest of the world and reap the benefits of a free and diverse society.

South Africa, a beacon of hope as a result of its advanced constitution, which protects basic rights and its political and economic leadership is slowly showing signs all too familiar with Africa's post colonial nationalist governments. That is the intolerance towards criticism and leaning towards legislative power to seek protection from public scrutiny.

The threats of a Media Tribunal proposed by the ruling ANC government, and the ensuing tussle for control of the public broadcaster, the SABC, as well as the proposed Protection of Information law is a serious retrogression from the spirit of 1994, the spirit of a people's victory and freedom. On May 3, the ruling party and government in South Africa need to take stock and introspect with a positive mind, on the relationship between the state and the media and also look at the role that the media plays in checking on centres of power to ensure accountability. More critically, South Africa should look at its leadership role and the implications to the rest of the region and the continent on the reversal of the enjoyment of basic rights in that country.

MISA further expresses concern on the state of government, media relations in Lesotho. The arrest of Thabo Thakalekoala, MISA regional chairperson, in 2007 on allegations of sedition point yet again to the need to repeal archaic insult and security laws that can be abused for political ends. MISA further expresses concern at the general continued use of insult laws not only in Lesotho but in Swaziland and Zimbabwe by powerful individuals in government, politics and business to silence journalists. In light of these, MISA is participating in a campaign with fellow civic organisations to establish a SADC Insult laws free zone. This campaign takes cognisance of the need to improve journalistic skills and also promote amicable dispute resolution through voluntary Media Councils.

In the course of the year, MISA issued 181 alerts. The media alerts document media and freedom of expression violations and developments in Southern Africa.

Zimbabwe had the highest number of alerts at 57. The monitoring of media and freedom of expression violations generally point to further deterioration in the relationship between our governments and the media. This bad relationship is demonstrated through threats made on journalists and media organisations, and the enactment of unfriendly media laws.

While new positive laws were drafted and passed in Zambia, their implementation remains in limbo as the government procrastinates on taking the laws forward. New laws are also being proposed in Swaziland with far reaching consequences on the future of the underdeveloped media in that country.

Tanzania is also going through a media legislative process whose consultations are not satisfactory. MISA underscores that while some aspects of media regulation, especially democratic broadcasting and telecommunications are required, governments in southern Africa are generally caught in a time warp, where legislation remains focused on the traditional media, newspapers and television, and also focused on controlling rather than developing, focused on protection of the elite and the powerful rather than accountability and transparency. New laws being proposed in the region fall far short of recognising developments in the ICTs sector and how our media can be assisted to further reach out and develop capacity and skills.

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