19 SOUTHERN AFRICA PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2019-2020 Zambia Information ministry permanent secretary Amos Malupenga CREDIT: MISA ZAMBIA via FACEBOOK practitioners through measures that prevent attacks on journalists and other media practitioners, including ill-treatment among others, and take effective legal and other measures to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of attacks against journalists and other media practitioners, and ensure that victims have access to effective remedies. Specifically, Principle 20 (6) provides that States shall take specific measures to ensure the safety of female journalists and media practitioners by addressing gender-specific safety concerns, including sexual and gender-based violence, intimidation and harassment. CENSORSHIP, DIGITAL SPACES AND INTERNET SHUTDOWNS Angola’s Electronic Communications and Information Society Services Act of 2011 empowers the government to conduct surveillance. The law has also been found to be overly broad and vague. It has been observed that generally there is self-censorship, caused by years of state repression, and fear that state security agents are embedded within newsrooms. In October 2020, TV Zimbo refused to broadcast an investigative story by a journalist highlighting allegations against the director of the office of the president, for fear of reprisals. On a positive note, in 2019, access to the internet was enhanced through price reductions. On 15 January 2019, the government of Zimbabwe ordered telecommunication companies to shut down the internet and social media platforms in order to regulate protesters and block them from accessing information. This shutdown was challenged in court and it was ruled that the directive issued by the Minister of State for National Security to block the internet was unlawful under the Interception of Communications Act, ordering for the immediate