Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

Police in Zimbabwe have banned the possession of “specially designed radios” on suspicion that they are being used to communicate hate speech ahead of the referendum and elections in March.

The Printing and Publishing Company Botswana refused to print the 20–26 January 2013 edition of The Patriot on Sunday, creating concern about how the editorial independence of the paper has been threatened.

The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition has called for an end to the ban of a newspaper that began nearly six months ago. MwanaHalisi was banned under the Newspaper Act of 1976, which has been previously used to either suspend or shut down newspapers deemed critical of the government.

Striking farm workers in De Doorns, located in South Africa’s Western Cape province, on Monday, 14 January 2013 attacked three journalists from the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) who were covering their strike action.

Eugene Dube was attacked by an angry mob after accompanying the deputy sheriff of Machobeni to deliver a subpoena order to a family home. The family had been holding a vigil for a deceased relative when the journalist and sheriff arrived.

Issa Ngumba, a special correspondent for Radio Kwizera in the Kigoma region, was found dead on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, three days after he went missing under mysterious circumstances.

Anthony Masamba was attacked after asking the head of the Malawi Confederation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry to comment on alleged government overspending. The State House has reportedly overspent on its 2012/2013 national budget allocation barely five months into the fiscal year.

While welcoming moves to implement measures that guarantee media independence, IFEX-TMG calls on the Tunisian government to fully respect free expression in the new Constitution and put an end to attacks on journalists and artists.