Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, on the night of 30 June 1998, a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent and his family escaped death after their house was set alight by unknown people in Moshi (northern Tanzania). **Updates IFEX alert of 18 June 1998** Journalist Nechi Lyimo, who is based in the northern zone, stays in […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 25 June 1998, the editor of the defunct “Crime News” and “Confidential” newspapers, Steward Mwila, was detained and searched by a combined team of police and immigration officers as he was about to leave for South Africa. Mwila told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA) that he was made to disembark from […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Police in Zanzibar on 21 June 1998, confiscated the film of photo-journalist Amour Nassor, who works for the state-owned weekly “Nuru”. Nassor was on assignment at the time to cover voting in a parliamentary by-election in Mikunguni. He was taking photos of voters at the Kijangwani polling station when he was surrounded by […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The government of Tanzania intends to review media laws which have been deemed oppressive, the government owned “Daily News” reported on 20 June 1998. Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye told the National Assembly in Dodoma on 19 June that the government would table before the House the possible amendments to laws relating to the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 22 June 1998, the government of Tanzania banned two more privately owned Kiswahili tabloids. A statement issued by the Tanzania Information Services in Dodoma said the newspapers “Tingisha” and “Watu” had been banned for violating the Newspaper Act No. 3 of 1976 and the Newspaper Regulations of 1977. The statement said, “the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 28 May 1998, various civil society organisations rejected the second draft of the Public Order and Security Bill. The bill, which was gazetted in April 1998, will seek to replace the notorious Law and Order (Maintenance) Act of 1960. **Updates IFEX alerts dated 20 February 1998 and 13 November 1997** While the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – At least four journalists have come under pressure variously from the police and private individuals to reveal the source of an article which appeared in January in the satirical weekly newspaper, “Sanifu”. The article, entitled “Askofu Msaidizi Ajisetiri na Mke wa Muumini”, reported on an unnamed Assistant Bishop who was having an affair […]

(MISA/IFEX) – “The Post” newspaper reports that, on 13 June 1998, Lusaka Provincial Deputy Minister Sonny Mulenga accused some unnamed private newspapers of “having a hidden agenda of discrediting the [ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy] MMD leadership”. The paper quotes Mulenga, who was addressing MMD supporters in Lusaka, as saying that the MMD leadership was […]