State of the media in Southern Africa - 2004 In May, Thabane, while Minister of Home Affairs and Public Safety, verbally threatened the editor of the Public Affairs programme on Radio Lesotho, Nthabeleng Sefako, on air. Roughly translated from Sesotho to English, Thabane said: “This woman Nthabeleng Sefako needs to be sorted out. She is a mere civil servant and yet she wants to dictate to me, a whole cabinet minister, how long my programme should be...we’ll keep a close eye on her”. Six months later Thabane, the chairperson of the Cabinet Task Force on Security, became her Minister, ostensibly to keep a “close eye” on the transformation process of the state media. The on-air confrontation is an example of the necessity for the transformation of the state radio, where MISA-Lesotho was refused a slot on the current affairs programme to discuss the issue of transformation. MISA Lesotho’s interview on the government controlled Lesotho Television on the transformation of state media was also prevented from airing. Attacks on media practitioners In September 2004 Justice Maqelepo, a freelance journalist, was severely assaulted by police officers and armed municipal security personnel for asking why they were hurling vulgarities at vendors they were evicting from the streets of Maseru. Maqelepo had initially revealed his identity to the commanding officer, who was the first to assault him. Other officers then joined in. MISA Lesotho condemned the barbaric act and issued the following statement: “The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho Chapter condemns in the strongest terms the attack on freelance journalist, Justice Maqelepo, by a mob of Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) cadres and Maseru City Council (MCC) constables on September 10, 2004. The MCC enforcers, who were armed the teeth with sticks and sjamboks, were ostensibly involved in an operation to remove street vendors from the main road (Kingsway) of the capital, Maseru. There have been running street battles in the past, with some vendors resisting removal. In a similar incident in 2003, two journalists from a local newspaper were injured. The latest incident involving Mr Maqelepo happened near the main Post Office building on Kingsway. In recounting the incident, Maqelepo told MISA Lesotho that the police alighted from two vehicles and launched an attack on the vendors with their weapons, screaming obscenities at them. He introduced himself to one of the police who seemed to be in command and identified himself as a journalist and asked whether this was the way the police normally operated. The officer in question changed his attitude immediately, screamed an insult at him and threw a punch to his face. A small group detached itself from the main body and joined their commander in beating up Maqelepo with sticks and sjamboks. Seizing an opportunity, he fled across the street and was able to escape his attackers, but not before he had sustained a bruised lip and a lacerated shoulder. MISA-Lesotho condemns this action by the police and MCC enforcers in the strongest possible terms. Is represents a mindless infringement of the right of journalists to do their work. It infringes the right of the public to information to which the public is entitled and places the public at the mercy of the police who are seemingly above the law when it comes to respect for basic human rights. We call on the authorities to investigate this incident and institute a full public inquiry with a view to ensuring that incidents such as these never happen again in a democracy such as ours and that perpetrators of such acts are brought to book.” So This Is Democracy? 2004 49 Media Institute of Southern Africa