Cautious Hope: State of media in Southern Africa

Cautious hope: The state of media and freedom of Expression in Southern Africa- Rashweat Mukundu


Media development and respect for freedom of expression rights are increasingly coming to the centre of public debate in Southern Africa. While the region carries the infamous distinction of being home to Zimbabwe, one of the word’s worst violators of media and freedom of expression rights, Southern Africa is also home to South Africa the continent’s leading economy and media giant. While the region is a mixed bag of success and failures, one gets the feeling that despite all what has gone wrong in the region, especially in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Swaziland and Lesotho, media development and freedom of expression rights issues can no longer be ignored by governments.

The democratisation of Southern Africa, a project of the early 1990’s saw many changes in the region. Critically the independence of Namibia and South Africa and consolidation of political multi-partiysm in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique. At the same time the region had to deal with the situations in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and DRC. At the centre of these challenges is the place of media and freedom of expression rights in national discourse, especially political transformation, reporting human rights violations and corruption. It difficult if not impossible to give a uniform score mark to Southern African countries but rather to distinguish amongst the broad categories that each given state finds itself in.

South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, and Mozambique are probably in their own category in which media plurality and diversity can be said to exist, not without challenges. The media in these countries has fairly diversified especially in the 1990s going into this century. This category boost of numerous newspapers printed by private players as well as government owned media in the form of broadcasting stations and newspapers. While most state owned media has played the role of supporting government projects in what this sector calls development journalism, the private or independent media has endeavoured to report critically around issues of bad governance and corruption. This has resulted in the private media being painted with the same brush as the opposition parties. And being seen as part of the opposition comes with its own challenges in the region. In Namibia as an example the government still maintains a ban on advertising in The Namibian newspaper, which it accuses of writing negatively about the SWAPO led government. In South Africa, the government made a threat to stop advertising in the Sunday Times after critical reporting on an arms purchase scandal that has engulfed the political leadership in that country. The ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) in South Africa has also proposed legislation that would restrict media freedom. The same has happened in Botswana. Apart from the threats of economic sanctions, all countries in this grouping have proposed laws to curb media and journalistic freedom under the guise of protecting national interests. At the time of writing this piece, the Zambia government was at the throat of The Post newspaper, threatening to deal with the newspaper should its Presidential candidate and Current Acting President Rupiah Banda win the Presidential by-election in that country. In Malawi the state has threatened to shut down private radio stations accused of supporting the opposition. Botswana once seen as the beacon of hope in the continent is discussing a Media Practitioners Bill, which critics have likened to the infamous Zimbabwean Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) under which journalists and newspapers have been harassed. Under the proposed law, the government would register journalists and subject them to a disciplinary code developed by a government appointed commission. Those critical of the Botswana government especially its handling of the minority San communities have been bundled out of the country. In Southern Africa generally all media has a fixation with politics while critical areas of concern to the common citizen have been neglected. These include wider coverage of the HIV-AIDS issues, gender sensitive reporting among others. Where corruption is reported it is mostly related to politics.

The second or ‘bad guys’ grouping of the media in Southern Africa includes Zimbabwe, the DRC, Lesotho and Swaziland. In these countries the media operates under tight control and threats are put into action. Zimbabwe has in the past few years banned four newspapers, and exiled tens of journalists. The private media operates in a legal minefield in which literally anything critical of the ruling elite can result in arrest. If one escapes arrest, extra judicial means have been used including the murder of one independent camera person and beating of journalists. Swaziland is increasingly tightening its control of the media and freedom of expression rights are impugned upon with impunity and increasingly so. The growing demand for political plurality is drawing the worst out of the world’s last absolute Monarch as marches, processions and demonstrations are banned. The private media is increasingly being called upon to tow the line. The same happens in Lesotho, where Harvest FM, a private radio station was handed a 12 month ban and private journalists threatened with legal suits and arrests. In the DRC independent journalism is rarely tolerated and being a critic has dire consequences.

It is important to state that while media and freedom of expressing rights are still very much in peril, investment in the media is growing in the region, except in few countries as Zimbabwe. And even in Zimbabwe hope has been rekindled that a political settlement between the main political rivals might result in the relaxation of media and freedom of expression laws. Of importance in Southern Africa is the growing use of new technologies in information generation and sharing. If is for this reason that while the Zimbabwe government could afford to ban all foreign media, the story of Zimbabwe remained in the public domain regionally and internationally due to online publishing. Mobile telephony has given the common person new power to communicate and share information without much restrictions. A lot however still needs to be done with regard to repealing undemocratic media laws, and encouraging the development of media and telecommunications. Nonetheless Southern Africa is changing, albeit slowly. //End//_____________________________________________