6 Communication Regulatory Body (ERCA), which regulates journalists’ conduct and investigates producers of online content without judicial oversight. The body is also mandated to suspend or ban websites that fail to abide by “good standards of journalism”. In addition, publication of hate speech, defamatory material and false news are offences. Angola’s private media outlets are owned by high ranking state officials, thereby acting as the government’s mouthpiece, and making it difficult to do critical reporting against the state. Despite this, there have been no known incidents of the government blocking or filtering online content during the reporting period. Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is an absolute monarchy. In their 2013 report on the state of press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that South African newspapers entering the country are thoroughly screened for information negatively depicting the king and if found, all copies are purchased by the government and destroyed. The country has two newspapers; the Eswatini Observer (formerly Swazi Observer), indirectly owned by the king, while the Times of Swaziland is privately owned, but reported to be linked to the kingdom. The country has approximately 32 laws that are restrictive to the media, like the Swaziland Television Authority Act 1983, Proscribed Publications Act 1968, Obscene Publications Act 1927, Books and Newspaper Act 1963 which regulates the registration of newspapers, Official Secrets Act 1968, Cinematograph Act 1920, and the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act 1938, which provides for the suppression of sedition and seditious publications and criminalises criticising the king or any member of the royal family. The Official Secrets Act of 1967 also criminalises communication of information of “prohibited places” under section 4, while section 34 of the Internal Security (General) Act of 1984 punishes publications “that might reasonably be expected to result in the commission of public violence.” The 1938 colonial Sedition Proclamation further criminalises in an overly broad manner the publication of seditious material. At the start of 2020, Lesotho’s Informative newspaper was fined heavily by the High Court in a default ruling against it in a defamation case over the Defence Director in a row over property. In Malawi, 2019 was characterised by protests against the Electoral Commission for mismanaging the Presidential Elections. Here, we saw both the Constitutional and Supreme Courts recognising the importance of the media as an actor in the justice system, by allowing, for the first time, live coverage of the 2019 Presidential Elections petitions by mainstream national radio outlets. This bolstered the principle of open justice, and set a precedent, appreciating the media’s role in covering and reporting judicial processes for the citizens. Malawi, however, still has laws like the Official Secrets Act (1913), the Printed Publications Act (1947) and the Censorship and Control of Entertainments Act (1968) as well as the Protected Flags, Emblems and Names Act, which have been used to hinder the work of journalists and to silence critics. In 2019, Bon Kalindo, a former Member of Parliament was arrested under the Protected Flags, Emblems and Names Act for allegedly insulting the then President, Peter Mutharika. In terms of plurality, it is reported that Malawi has about 90 media outlets. The public The Computer Crime and Cybercrime Bill of 2020, if passed into law, will further criminalise publication of “fake news” that damages the country’s image, with liability of a fine of up to 10 million SZL (about US$620 000) or 10 years in prison. In September 2020, Mangqoba Khumalo, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, stated that the law is not aimed at curtailing media freedoms, but protecting people online using Police arrest photojourglobally benchmarked controls around the digital nalist Santos Samuspace (5). esecca while he was In Lesotho, section 10(1) of the Printing and Publishing Act of 1967 makes it an offence to import, print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, or reproduce statements which pose a danger to “public safety” and “public order”. covering an anti-government protest in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on October 24, 2020 CREDIT: CPJ