In South Africa, over the past decade, a new threat to women in journalism has emerged: cyber misogyny (hatred of women online), trolling or online social media bullying. (9) A 2018 research report by Gender Links and the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) showed that of the journalists surveyed in the research 30 percent women and nine percent men agreed that women journalists do face cyberviolence. While only a few women reported cyberstalking with a few saying they had been victims of unknown email or cell phone correspondence issuing violent threats, bullying and trolling, often of a sexual nature. (10) Politicians have often been caught in the crosshairs of online violence, especially against journalists. Earlier in 2021, SANEF noted “the harrowing online attack on another female journalist by a senior politician.” In this instance, the president of the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League, Bathabile Dlamini, singled out journalist Qaanitah Hunter on Twitter following a story authored by Hunter titled “Bathabile Dlamini faces resistance over calls for ANCWL to support Magashule”. (11) In her tweets, Dlamini accused Hunter of deliberately “spreading lies” and being “bankrolled” by a “master” to “destroy the ANC”. Her tweets further referred to Hunter as “misogynistic” and “an insult to the struggle for women’s emancipation”, and labelled her Qaanitah Hunter CREDIT: Creamer Media as an “information peddler”. (12) In 2019, the late Karima Brown, who was a prominent journalist, took the Economic Freedom Fighters to court in a case of doxing where her mobile phone number was published on the social media platform Twitter and following that she experienced harassment, intimidation and received death and rape threats. (13) In 2018, Ferial Haffajee, a prominent journalist and editor, was threatened with getting “a bullet in her head” via a Twitter message. (14) In a case study written in The Glass Ceiling Research by Gender Links and SANEF, Haffajee notes that the violence is patriarchal and gendered and growing concerns about cyber misogyny might lead to female journalists withdrawing from online platforms, further depriving an already maledominated public sphere of female voices. (15) In Botswana, female journalists also experience online violence. Here evidence supports UNESCO’s position that noted the role of political actors, including presidents and elected representatives, party officials and members in instigating and fuelling online violence campaigns against women journalists as a major issue. (16) In a particular case that appeared at the height of electioneering in 2019, a Member of Parliament for Selibe Phikwe West, Dithapelo Koorapetse was accused by the media union of cyberbullying a female reporter, Tirelo Ditshipi. During a public spat with another journalist, Philemon Mmeso, who is also Ditshipi’s husband, Koorapetse shared the female journalist’s pictures on social media platforms, ridiculing her. Koorapetse’s party president refused to call the MP to order, saying Ditshipi was “collateral damage”. In another incident, MISA Botswana documented a case regarding a Botswana investigative Guardian journalist, Yvonne Mooka, who exposed a prophet for illegal activities bordering on money laundering. (17) The journalist was trolled online and harassed by those who did not like her investigative story, something which they noted does not often happen to male journalists. (18) In Malawi, it was found that incidences of online violence often stem from events STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 21 are the specific cases from eight countries of focus, namely Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.