of consultation: there was a hastily constructed consultative process, which was neither inclusive nor credible. The MPA turns the right to practice journalism into a privilege by setting down statutory regulations requiring journalists to be accredited to practice their profession. Media publishers are also required to obtain a licence from the Statutory Media Council and failure to do so will result in a fine or three years imprisonment or both. The creation of the statutory body goes directly against the self regulatory Press Council of Botswana (PCB), which was not consulted during the enactment of the MPA. At some point there was a lukewarm attempt to engage with the PCB, who clearly expressed their reservations and instead were told by the Ministry of Communications to try and approach the Attorney General’s office as “everything is with the technical people”. Under the same legislation all websites and blogs will have to be registered with the Media Council, which had not been appointed at the time of the AMB workshop in May 2009. The Botswana Telecommunications Authority recently demanded the registration of all sim cards by the end of the year and those who fail to do so will have their services terminated. Citizens see this requirement and the newly established Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), a spy unit, which has a larger budget than the police force, as a direct threat to their civil liberties. While Batswana have a general understanding of the role of the media, there has been a general lack of advocacy around media issues. In the past, civil society groups were reluctant to speak out in support of media freedom. The passing of the MPA consolidated civil society into forming an umbrella organisation aptly named the Coalition for the Freedom of Expression (COFEX) early this year. COFEX, which is a forum established under the Botswana chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), still needs to do more lobbying with the general public on the impact the MPA will have on media freedom but their predicament is lack of funding. The majority of donor organisations pulled out of Botswana in 1994 soon after the international community declared it a middle income country. This has left many civil society organisations under - resourced and struggling to find alternative sources of income. It should also be noted, government controls 80 percent of the economy and most of the contracts and tenders that are on offer are directly and indirectly linked to government so that the obligation to stay in favour with the establishment is strong. Government is also the largest stakeholder in the media industry with near total control of television and radio. Surviving as a privately owned media organisation AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BOTSWANA 2009 7