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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
Lesotho
Sophia M. Tlali
Sophia Tlali is the Director/Principal Shareholder of KKMedia & Editorial
Services PTY LTD. KK Media is a member of MILES since 1997/98. She is
also a Co-Editor of the Lesotho Monitor.
Generally, in the recent past Lesotho has moved away from assassina
tion, injury to persons and harassment of journalists by government.
It could be expected, then, that there is relative freedom within which
the various independent media houses operate. But there are several hurdles
that restrict the Lesotho media from meeting their challenges in a democratic
dispensation. If we accept the premise that there can be no democracy without
the media, then of necessity the national mindset should be that of true
acceptance of the media as a forum for exchange of ideas. The legal system
should provide room for freedom of expression.
Maqutu J. said, “Lesotho has not yet matched our law with freedom of expression
as stated in the constitution. We have largely based our law on
Roman-Dutch law of defamation as received from the Cape of Good Hope
and modified by English Law of slander and libel.” Pakathitha Mosisili v
Candy Ramainoane CIV/T/51/97.
This legal environment means that reprisal for publication alleged to be
wrongful is still so severe as to discourage publication. On December 22
1999, Candy Ramainoane, the editor of Moafrika news magazine, was found
liable for defamation in a ruling by Lesotho’s High Court. A member of
parliament Moeketsi Sello was awarded US$15,000 as compensation for
damages to his dignity and fame and a further US$2,500 in punitive damages
and payment of all legal costs incurred in the pursuit of the case.
In July 2002, the Lesotho Evangelical Church (LEC), paid M15,000
(R15,000) in an out of court settlement to the former Lesotho Mounted Police
Service Officer Sello Lesita, now Lesotho Football Association administrative
secretary. The news report alleged that Lesita was linked to the
disappearance of a M10,000 cheque intended to buy a Mercedes-Benz. Lesita
sought to be compensated for damages as a result of the publication. He had
asked for fifty thousand maloti (M50,000) as compensation.
It is not far-fetched to conclude that the paper, Leselinyana la Basotho would
have been afraid to appear in court over this matter in light of the previous
cases that for instance Moafrika had not won, which have set a precedent
that a newspaper would find it difficult to win a defamation suit.
2002
In another incident an English Weekly Publication, Public Eye, faces a defa-
44 So This Is Democracy?