Media Institute of Southern Africa : Promoting Media Diversity . Pluralism . Self-Sufficiency . Independence

MISA commemorates May 3 under the theme “Press Freedom, Access to Information and empowering the people.” This theme captures all we expect from our media, and the role our governments should play in promoting media and freedom of expression rights.

The 2008 World Press Freedom Day comes at a time when the enjoyment and respect for media and freedom of expression rights in Southern Africa is on the slide. We mark May 3 under the shadow of a crisis in Zimbabwe and the deterioration of media freedoms throughout the region notably in Lesotho, Angola and Swaziland.

May 3 comes at a time when the international spotlight is once again on Southern Africa, home to some of the world’s archaic and repressive media environments with Zimbabwe taking the lead. We mark May 3 with mixed feelings, while we have made substantive strides since the Windhoek declaration in 1991, the last three years has witnessed a steady deterioration of media freedom, reminiscent of Africa’s one party state era of the 70’s and early 80s, characterized by the suppression of the basic fundamental rights of freedom of expression, assembly and human dignity.

The southern Africa envisaged in the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 is a far cry from the arrests, beatings, torture and detention of journalists and the general repression of free of expression that are characteristic of Zimbabwe and the region today. The democracy we fought for so hard is not the model we have witnessed in Zimbabwe and Angola where the state rules with absolute impunity, with no respect for the rule of law and total disregard of the will of the people. The SADC leadership we envisaged 10 years ago is a far cry from what we have today, where some of our leaders sacrifice their morality and integrity in the face of unspeakable human suffering and state decay in Zimbabwe.

Southern Africa is a region at a cross roads, with a choice to regress or move with the rest of the world and reap the benefits of a free and diverse society. South Africa, a beacon of hope as a result of its advanced constitution which protects basic rights and its political and economic leadership is slowly showing signs all too familiar with Africa’s post colonial nationalist governments. That is the intolerance towards criticism and leaning towards legislative power to seek protection from public scrutiny.

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