ing – public, commercial and community – Botswana legislation – specifically the BOCRA Act of 2012 – does not make provisions for community media or public service media and the law is silent about online radio stations. There have been calls from various stakeholders for the need to diversify the sector and create conducive conditions for community broadcasting to ensure a truly diverse, competitive and quality broadcasting sector. In September, Mascom Wireless, one of Botswana’s leading mobile network providers, launched the Tsena-Botswana online portal. The Tsena Botswana portal was described by Thato Moruti and Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego of Mascom as “an online one-stop shop and information sharing platform on anything and everything about Botswana, consisting of news content not paid for and produced by journalists paid by a variety of media houses involved”. Mascom consulted a wide range of parties, including bloggers, farmers, students and many more in different sectors to get their opinion and in other instances receive content for the portal. Tsena aims to be an online gateway to Botswana. Mascom said it was important to show the world that Botswana was “more than just nature, beef and diamonds” In another rights-related setback for the government, it lost its battle to block the registration of a gay rights group. Botswana’s highest court said the organisation Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) should be allowed to register. A five-judge bench at the Court of Appeals said the refusal had been unconstitutional. Judges dismissed Home Affairs Minister Edwin Batshu’s argument that registration might encourage the group’s members to break the law. Judge Ian Kirby, who handed down the ruling from a five-judge bench, said the reason for refusal was irrational based on the evidence presented. The ruling means LEGABIBO will be able to campaign for changes in anti-gay legislation. In and around newsrooms and courtrooms It was an eventful year in the legal domain in Botswana. Although most of the events do not directly relate to the media, they are worth highlighting as the media in Botswana has over the years had confidence in the courts of law in terms of obtaining justice when it seeks it. Repression of journalists while in pursuit of their job, especially investigative stories, remains a problem in Botswana, with no sign that the tension between the media and the state will be resolved soon. The year saw the continuation of the on-going court case in which Botswana weekly newspaper, Sunday Standard editor Outsa Mokone was charged with sedition after his paper covered a story about a car accident that allegedly involved the President of Botswana, Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama in 2014. Recently, the judiciary experienced some turbulence over discontentment with the appointment of judges and jus- The Sunday Standard story appeared on the front page on September 1, 2014, with the headline “President hit in car The Legal Environment 34 tices of the court of appeal. In a separate development, the suspension of a number of high court judges raised questions about the stability of the judiciary in Botswana. This followed allegations that they had questioned the administration of Chief justice Maruping Dibotelo. So This is Democracy? 2016