n 2001 - Carlos Alberto Cardoso The late Carlos Alberto Cardoso, editor of Metical, was murdered on 22 November 2000. A fearless campaigner for freedom and a lifelong socialist who committed his life to the African revolution and the struggle against imperialism, Cardoso was gunned down in what appears to have been a planned and professional assassination. Carlos’ exceptional talents as a writer ensured a rapid rise in the world of journalism. He worked first on the weekly magazine Tempo, then briefly on Radio Mozambique, before he was appointed chief news editor of the Mozambique News Agency (AIM) in 1980. In 1990, Cardoso was among a group of journalists campaigning for the inclusion of a specific commitment to press freedom in the new constitution. The clauses on the media in the 1990 constitution, and the follow-up press law of 1991, are among the most liberal in Africa. In 1992, Cardoso and a dozen others founded a journalists’ cooperative, Mediacoop, launching Mediafax. A dispute in Mediacoop in 1997 led to Cardoso leaving the cooperative to set up Metical. Cardoso campaigned tirelessly against what he regarded as the disastrous recipes for the economy imposed by the World Bank and the IMF, championing the fight of the cashew processing industry and later of the sugar industry, against liberalisation measures. Among the scandals Cardoso had been investigating in the last months of his life, one stands out above all others. This was the largest banking fraud in the country’s history. In 1996, a wellorganised criminal network stole the equivalent of $14 million out of Mozambique’s largest bank, BCM. Although the names of the main suspects were known there was no prosecution and no trial. n 2002 - No award was presented in 2002. MISA celebrated its 10th anniversary in Maputo, Mozambique n 2003 - Dr. Augusto Raul Paulino Through the award MISA recognizes the incalculable contribution made by Judge Paulino to the judicial process in Mozambique, as well as access to information and freedom of expression in the region. Judge Paulino presided over the celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos Cardoso, one of Mozambique’s top investigative journalists. The trial was hailed widely as both a triumph of the openness of the court proceedings and an indictment of the corruption among the country’s rich and powerful. By allowing the electronic media to cover the case live Judge Paulino gave the public an opportunity to form its own opinion and that has been a major step and a positive example for the whole continent to emulate. Although many Mozambicans may not be satisfied by the outcome, they have witnessed that the judicial system can work. n 2004 - Methaetsile Leepile In March 2002 under Methaetsile Leepile’s guidance, the first ever vernacular Setswana broadsheet newspaper, Mokgosi, was born in Botswana. The weekly broadsheet has a circulation of 10 000 copies. Leepile believes that there are compelling reasons to protect indigenous languages from extinction because when a language dies, a people’s knowledge dies with it. Editorially Mokgosi newspaper also tackles social, political and economic issues from a developmental agenda, ensuring that a previously large sector of the Botswana population is able to access credible information on issues that affect their livelihood. Mr Leepile is however no stranger to MISA. He was amongst the group of media practitioners who met in Chobe 1989 to discuss the future of the media in our region. These discussions finally led to the formation of MISA through the Windhoek Declaration. He became the first director of MISA in 1994 and left its head office in Windhoek in 1999 to take up the management of the Southern Africa Media Development Fund (Samdef). He left Samdef in 2003 to enter the private sector. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -285- Media Institute of Southern Africa