Ntuthuko Maphumulo
South Africa fared very well in a report on the state of media freedom in Southern Africa, where Zimbabwe led the charts with the highest number of violations.
Thursday was World Press Freedom Day, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) released its report on the Southern African region titled So This Is Democracy.
The report said media freedom in the region was dealt a massive blow with the death of editor Carlos Cardoso in Mozambique.
There was an increase in violations against the media in the past 12 months, with 46 of the 182 incidents recorded by Misa occuring in Zimbabwe. This was followed by Zambia with 31 incidents, Angola 24, Swaziland and Namibia 18 and Malawi with 16.
The lowest number of media violations in Southern Africa occurred in Lesotho with only two incidents.
In the past year, compared to 1999, more journalists were assaulted. Zimbabwe once again had the highest number of assaults with six in the past year, Zambia two and Angola one.
Media institutions were bombed in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Misa recorded 26 detentions of journalists, with nine in Zimbabwe, four in Tanzania, four in Botswana, three in Angola, two in Malawi, two in Zambia and two in Swaziland.
“What put the media in Zimbabwe under siege and what pushed the country to the top of the charts for media freedom violations was the violent parliamentary election held in June 2000,” the Misa report says.
“The political and economic turmoil in the country sparked so much tension that it spread to the media. This resulted in the government shifting the blame from themselves to the media by accusing the media of working against the government and the good of the country and reversing the gains of independence.”
The suing of media institutions by politicians appears to be on the increase in the region, Misa said.
President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi is suing a newspaper for publishing a story that claims he masterminded a government corruption scheme and President Sam Nujoma of Namibia is threatening to sue a newspaper for reporting that he owns a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Tanzania, a parliamentary candidate filed a suit against a newspaper for publishing allegations that he moved an election campaign into mosques.
In Zimbabwe criminal defamation has been brought against a newspaper and journalists for publishing a story linking President Robert Mugabe to what the newspaper described as unauthorised payments allegedly made by Air Harbour Technologies in connection with the controversial $5-billion new Harare International airport.
In Angola three journalists were found guilty of defaming President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and government officials.
“The state of media freedom in the region is still fragile and far from normalising,” Misa concluded.
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