Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

The state is considering prosecuting a theatre group because of its performances of a play referring to the murder of four politicians during the regime of former dictator Kamuzu Banda. An Associated Press (AP) report carried in the 17 March 1995 edition of the South African “Weekly Mail and Guardian” newspaper says that Malawi’s Chief […]

MISA’s Angola representative reports that Jonas Savimbi, leader of the UNITA rebel movement, and Holden Roberto, who heads the opposition FNLA, have both spoken on the need for media freedom in their country. Speaking on the rebel movement Radio Vorgan on 15 March 1995 in a speech delivered to mark the 29th anniversary of the […]

Secrecy charges against two journalists working for the weekly “Mmegi” newspaper were dismissed by the Lobatse High Court on 28 February 1995. The two journalists, “Mmegi” managing editor Titus Mbuya and freelance reporter Professor Malema, were accused in the early 1990’s under the National Security Act of unlawfully receiving “an official document marked `secret’” and […]

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 […]