Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

(MISA/IFEX) – On 8 March 2000, Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza of the High Court refused to confirm a provisional order which the court had granted the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) on 13 January. This order compelled the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to broadcast the NCA’s advertisements and programmes about the Constitutional Commission’s reforms. The NCA […]

**Updates IFEX alert of 6 March 2000** (MISA/IFEX) – The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) condemned Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd. (Zimpapers) and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) for what it alleged to be “the worst failings of the publicly funded media.” The MMPZ referred to ZBC’s censoring of the announcement made on 2 March 2000 […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The Postal and Telecommunications Bill of 1999 was referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee after going through the Committee stage on 2 March 2000. The bill seeks to establish a regulatory authority, to be named the Postal and Telecommunications Authority Board, which will regulate and licence postal and telecommunications service providers. The board […]

**Updates IFEX alert of 6 March 2000** (MISA/IFEX) – The freedom of expression monitoring group Article 19 has unveiled significant evidence of media manipulation in Malawi’s 1999 presidential election campaign. In an election media monitoring project conducted between February and June of 1999, Article 19 alleged the existence of two “disinformation teams”, and found that […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 1 March 2000, the former deputy minister of finance, Fred Nseula, and an accomplice, Aaron Sakala, were arrested following an alleged plot to bomb the state-owned radio station of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). According to the PANA news agency, police spokesperson Oliver Soko said the two men were being charged with […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 2 March 2000, the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) television station failed to report an announcement made by Minister of Home Affairs Dumiso Dabengwa. Dabengwa’s announcement ordered veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war to evacuate the white-owned commercial farms they had illegally invaded “with immediate effect.” However, ZBC’s news bulletin did include an […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 February 2000, the Tanzanian government threatened to shut down all newspapers which published stories or cartoons that defamed the president or were found to be seditious. The threat was made by the Director of Tanzania Information Services (TIS), Kassim Mpenda, at a ceremony launching the Tanzania Media Council newsletter, “Media Watch”. […]

Journalist Andre Domingos Mussamo continues to be held in detention in the Angolan province of Cuanza Norte despite the expiry of a second legal release deadline. 3 March 2000 is Mussamo’s ninety-second day in detention. Mussamo’s detention has exceeded the legal deadline in terms of the Angolan Press Law, which allows only a fifteen-day detention […]