Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
The relationship between media organisations, over the year under review,
was cordial but not without pinpricks and provocations. Ruling party Executive
Secretary, Botsalo Ntuane, on returning from a Masters, programme in
the United Kingdom, stirred a ‘storm in a tea cup’ by criticising Mmegi-The
Reporter for owning a printing press, claiming this was a monopoly that was
not appropriate in Botswana’s fledgling press industry. He was given the opportunity
to talk to his thesis at an open meeting in the Museum Little Theatre
in Gaborone. He defended his allegations, and the storm was cleared up by
Mmegi Managing Editor Titus Mbuya’s explanation of some pertinent points.
With the paper’s board members, now and then, throwing light on some crucial
issues, the meeting ended with both parties understanding one another’s
point of view.
The spirit of oneness among the media fraternity was not ordinarily observed
in media houses throughout the year. This is because of the size of our population
and the dearth of news - therefore there was nothing much to warrant
frequent meetings. But, in contrast, May 3 every year is a day of excitement
for everybody who has anything to do with media. The marchers demonstrating
on the day provided an unforgettable picture in 2002.
The Media Control Bill was like a siren sounded by government to remind the
private press of government’s muscle. In the past year, the news had it that the
Minister of External Affairs, Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, wanted
the Bill passed ‘now’ while the Minister of Communications Science and
Technology, Boyce Sebetela, wanted it ‘later’ and the year ended without its
enactment into law. The bottom line is that government is anxious to enact
legislation that would put the press under tighter control but dithers because it
has its ‘democracy’ to nurse.
Our observation here is that even though the press is assumed to be the Fourth
Realm of the Estate in true democracies, after the Executive, Legislature and
the Judiciary, it is not seen as such in Botswana. The press exposed certain
atrocities but the state machinery seemed complacent about these reports,
whereas, in a true democracy, government would have seen fit to respond to
such issues and come out openly about what it was doing to address them.
2002
Asked if they were aware of any opposition by themselves or their colleagues
to any infringement of the constitutional rights of the media, the Botswana
Media Consultative Council responded, “Yes, the media fraternity - more
especially MISA, BMCC and editors in the private press were outspoken on
such issues.” The Editor of Mokgosi, the only local vernacular newspaper in
Botswana, responded thus, “Yes. MISA (Botswana) and other stakeholders
continued to put pressure on government to scrap the Media Bill and end
interference at the Department of Information and Broadcasting and at Botswana
Television.”
34 So This Is Democracy?