allAfrica.com: Botswana: Killing the Press Softly (Page 1 of 3)

The press fraternity will be well warned to read between the lines. The page in black and white announces a firm commitment on the part of the post Mogae administration to a generous broadcasting of gifts, footballs and opportunities for the performing and graphic artists, vendors, hawkers and medical aid for pensioners.

That is a relatively cheap price to pay for a victory at the next general election. It is also an ingenious way of disguising the dictatorial tendencies of the new regime now manifesting themselves in the form of retrieval of the old laws that sought to silence the little that remains of the private press.

As early as 1985, Ponatshego Kedikilwe brought to parliament the National Security Act on the back of the sentiment that it would assist the state to arrest subversion by Batswana and agents of the South African intelligence services.

Apparently, it was not enough that the minister of Home Affairs and the President already had more than enough power to, without a guarantee of the right of the accused to contest, declare any person 'disaffected' and on that account, to declare the person 'persona non grata'. Simply, a prohibited immigrant or 'PI'.

Following the 1985 South African Defence Force raid on Gaborone to banish Mxolisi Mxgashe who had asked 10 questions about the whereabouts of the Botswana Defence Force when the SADF arrived. His was a presidential order.

At least seven journalists were banished similarly, most significantly Gwen Ansell, presumably for her association with South African exiles, and the Zambian, John Mukela, who carried an article in the Botswana Guardian about the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. It is difficult to tell what Charles Mogale and Sam Zulu could have done.

Prof Malema was also reigned in for interrogation for his investigations into negotiations between the manual Workers Union and government, revealing that in fact that it was agreed that the employees would be awarded a wage increase close to what they had requested.

Malema, government argued, had gained access to 'secret' official documents. He could have been arrested under the 'official secrets act,' but the government preferred the National Security Act, which, the public was told, was aimed at 'foreign' saboteurs of the state.

Research at the time showed that of the 30 or so people who had been arrested under the National Security Act, by far the greatest majority were citizens.

The law placed the burden of proof on the accused to prove his or her innocence. Detention without charge was extended from the previous maximum of 36 hours to 72. Police officers were empowered to enter publishing houses and impound news materials if they suspected that they might undermine the security of the country.

The events of the mid 80s were only an expression of an established practice of hostility to an 'independent press', particularly one that exhibited an inclination to go against official policy.

Government had previously banned Sechaba, the African Communist and other publications of the anti-apartheid liberation movement. It had forestalled establishment of a private press by deception, then practiced by Ministers of Works and communication, Jimmy Haskins, and Collin Blackbeard, that the ministry was not legally empowered to issue broadcasting licenses. That was until the 'Gunda case' revealed, only after a High Court decision, that in fact the Ministry of Works was properly empowered to do precisely that.

Government quickly spawned a Botswana Telecommunications Authority under the trusted civil servant, Moses Lekaukau, who worked out of the Ministry of Works.

Applicants for radio and television licenses were compelled to pay thousands of Pula for forms to apply.

Former British soldier turned businessman, William Jones, and Kgosinkwe Moesi, took advantage of governments lapse in vigilance to register the Botswana Guardian when the Botswana Posts and Telecommunications Act required that an applicant for a newspaper publishing license should only pay P40 to the post office. As soon as the Guardian registered the amount climbed to P200 and then to P400.

The rationale for a registration fee was originally based on the pursuit of the citizens right to freedom of expression and formulation and expression of his or her opinions, not to subvert that right as the Ministers of Works and Communication under Seretse Khama and Ketumile Masire had done.

So, the post office gave publications privileged status in the process of distribution because newspapers were regarded as educational materials that would assist the practice of democracy.

Newspapers are exposed at the ends of the cover so that the post office should establish that they are reading materials, and therefore eligible for privileged treatment. Sometimes, the envelope that carries the newspaper will be cut at the corner so that the post office workers should see the contents, establishing that this is educational material.

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