Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

REGIONAL OVERVIEW
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
So why are the governments in the SADC region so hell bent on silencing the
media? Our governments don’t seem content with running the affairs of the
state and providing their people with the necessities of life. They would also
want to run the very lives and control the thinking of the citizens they govern.
That was the cornerstone of colonial oppression – to smash any deviant thinking
of the natives.
One of the most effective ways in which our governments have achieved this
has been through blackmail and suppression of all criticism and information
designed to expose the fallacy of their policies and, in some cases, the crimes
of their elite. All critics are crushed because very few of our leaders can differentiate
between a critic and a traitor. There is no regard for the patriotism
of critics because our ruling political parties consider themselves as the government.
The SADC Culture, Sport and Information Protocol, signed in August 2001,
in many respects falls short of what MISA stands for, which is primarily the
promotion of media freedom in the region through the repealing or amendment
of anti-media legislation, including criminal defamation, the promotion
of vibrant and independent media, the establishment of and sustainable management
of community media, and the promotion of legislation that guarantees
access to information.
The Protocol is silent on broadcasting issues, including regulatory aspects
and community broadcasting. Furthermore, critical issues of media ownership
and editorial independence of both the public and private media do not
feature in the Protocol. In some cases where these phrases are mentioned the
discussion is sub-standard and vague, to say the least.
Since these countries are signatories to a multitude of international charters
and conventions - including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the AU Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights, the Fourth Lome Convention, UNESCO-Windhoek Declaration
of 1991 and the SADC Declaration on the Role of Information and
Communication in Building the Southern African Development Community
– one would hope to be able to paint a different picture of the press freedom
situation in the region. But it remains to be seen to what extent SADC governments
will observe their responsibility to press freedom.
There certainly are grounds to question the sincerity of the SADC governments’
commitment to media freedom, pluralism and the growth of a truly
diverse media.
So This Is Democracy? 15