Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

Journalists charge that the government has been using the act to victimise private newspapers. “The Official Secrets Act makes democracy meaningless because it prohibits meaningful participation of citizens, who are supposed to know what their government is doing in their name,” Fred M’membe, editor-in-chief of “The Post” newspaper, told IPS. “They cannot indulge in public […]

Four journalists and three print shop production staff are on trial for publishing photographs of naked women. The photographs were used to illustrate an expose on Dar es Salaam’s lucrative, illegal pornography industry. The story, an investigation into the production of back-street pornographic photographs and videos, appeared in the 28 December 1994 edition of “Mwana-Mama” […]

Secrecy provisions within draft legislation for a commission to investigate human rights violations during South African liberation struggle have met strong criticism from non-governmental organisations and the families of some of the victims. Journalists’ and media freedom organisations are amongst those opposed to the bill, both because of the draft law’s secrecy clauses, but also […]

Legislation which, in its original draft form, gave the government powers to license journalists, has resurfaced, prompting media workers’ fears that such a law could be used to restrict the media in the run-up to general elections, scheduled for October. However, the government’s Acting Principle Secretary of Information and Broadcasting, Bwire Musalika, says media workers […]

Ricardo De Mello, Director of the privately-owned newsletter “Imparcial Fax”, has been gunned down by an unidentified assassin outside his home. De Mello, 38, was shot in the early hours of 18 January on the stairs leading to his apartment in the capital Luanda. His body was discovered at about 06:00 by a child who […]