Botswana media head down the Zimbabwe path

The MPA has been juxta-positioned with Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), a piece of legislature that led to the closure of three privately owned newspapers and the creation of a polarized media environment that eventually contributed to the collapse of the democracy in the country.

The advent of MPA means that media houses and media practitioners have to apply to government for registration and accreditation for an operating licence valid for only a year. Media practitioners fear that some media houses' licences will not be renewed after their expiration because of trumped up charges, as the Act is a calculated step of shrinking the media space by quelling the independent view of the private press. The Act empowers government to shut down media houses that do not register with the ministry of information, while journalists who are not accredited face imprisonment.

Analysts say the law curtails fundamental human liberties such as the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and warn that private media houses should do their best to meet the requirements of this Act as failure to do so will see their closure. In Zimbabwe three privately owned newspapers; Daily News, The Tribune and The Mirror were shut down as soon as AIPPA saw the first light of its day after a long protracted debate on it in Parliament.

The Botswana chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in one of its campaigns against the Act noted that MPA is designed to make the ruling party and government untouchable, a norm in dictatorial states. MISA says what worsens the situation is that the Act was conceived along with the Intelligence and Security and Bogosi Acts that have a potential of undermining civil liberties.

The Intelligence and Security Act is premised around the fundamentals of Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act (POSA), a legislature that saw journalists and political opposition activities being arrested mostly on trumped up charges. Zimbabwe's ZANU PF ruling party used POSA and AIPPA to close the media and democratic space in its bid to cling to power and this is the road that Botswana has taken.

The Botswana Gazette said the recent enactments of these laws threatens to make the country a dicey tenuous democratic system.

“There was a time when Batswana felt safe, when people did not fear to speak their minds, when they could associate with whoever they wished and go wherever they wanted; but the freedoms of expression and speech, conscience, association and movement evidently can no longer be guaranteed,” said the paper in an editorial comment recently.

While the Ian Khama-led government says the MPA is designed to make the media answerable to the public, the Zimbabwean experience tells a story of a ruling party led government answerable to itself and that does not want scrutiny and vilification.

The recent extensive media coverage of the state's secret purchase of a luxurious presidential caravan and a private jet brought to the fore the government's overspending tendencies. These are issues that government seeks to keep away from the public eye as MPA stifles investigative journalism.

“We saw it happen in Zimbabwe and never thought our country would deviate from the democratic path and employ dictatorial tendencies such as the muzzling of the press,” said an editor of a privately-owned newspaper on condition of anonymity.

“It is unfortunate that this law comes, when the media industry is growing in leaps and bounds and this ultimately means all our hard work is in vain as the private media will be shut down as this is the primary objective of this law,” she said.

President Khama and his deputy are retired army generals who have been criticized by the opposition and the media for bringing military rule to the country and for engaging dictatorial tendencies that are compromising Botswana's credibility in Southern Africa and in regions beyond.