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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

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