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On 31 October, media houses in Maseru - which include the Lesotho Defence Force PublicRelations Office, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Southern African PressAssociation (SAPA) and Agence France-Presse (AFP) - were refused information at the NationalAssembly of the Kingdom of Lesotho about the Commonwealth Speakers’ Conference.The reason given by the authorities was that the information would first be transmitted to thegovernment-owned and controlled Radio Lesotho before being transmitted to the independentmedia.Following the incident, the MISA-Lesotho approached the National Assembly for clarificationand was informed that the public officials involved acted in accordance with a mandate fromgovernment authorities. MISA-Lesotho responded that these public officials were merely custodiansand not proprietors of public information, adding that the act was a gross violation ofmedia freedom and the right to access information.The deputy clerk of the National Assembly, Rethabile Maluke, was eventually authorised totransmit the information to the independent media in addition to the state media.This case illustrates the need for the ongoing MISA-Lesotho campaign for the transformationof state media into public service broadcasters so that a truly free, robust and pluralistic mediawith diverse views can become a reality in the Kingdom of Lesotho.· ALERTDate: July 29, 2005.Persons/Institutions: Catholic RadioViolation: ThreatenedThe Stadium Management Board of Setsoto National Stadium in Maseru, sent a letter of complaintto the Catholic Radio (CRFM) Management about a programme that the radio stationfeatured on July 29, 2005.The letter, which was signed by the Chairperson of the Management Board, Mrs. M. Ntokoanestated that on the morning of Friday July 29, 2005, the radio station broadcast a programmehosted by the Presenter, Jobo Masupha, where the topic for discussion was Setsoto stadium.The guests at the programme were Messrs. Tšiu Monne and Thabo Thakalekoala.According to the letter, issues that were raised in the said programme were mostly uninformedand defamatory. Among others the Board requested for a tape of that particular programmewhich it would study in order to conclude whether or not it would take legal action against thestation.· ALERTDate: June 30, 2005.Persons/Institutions: Masupha Jobo, Sister Clementine ThathoViolation: ThreatenedThe presenter of the Catholic Radio (CR) FM phone-in talk show, “Lijo’a Ke Baeti”, MasuphaJobo and the radio station manager, Sister Clementine Thatho, received threatening calls aboutthe programme that Jobo was running on June 30, 2005.The programme focused on the issue of the King’s Brother, who is also the Principal Chief ofMatsieng Royal Village in Maseru, being appointed as Lesotho’s High Commissioner to theUnited Kingdom. This has been a burning issue in Lesotho as most people could not understandhow the Principal Chief could assume a politically oriented position. The programmesought to get the public’s views and comment on this issue.During the programme, anonymous calls came through to the presenter and the station manager,insinuating that CR FM was becoming more of an opposition to government and that thepresenter had no business in the studio if he was to run programmes that were anti-government.The station manager stated that this was not the first incident, as members of the NationalSecurity Services had also approached her to complain that the presenter was anti-government.So This Is Democracy? 2005-58-Media Institute of Southern Africa