T he year 2007 was a litmus test for Lesotho’s democracy; one where, amongst others, the respect for media freedom was tested considerably during the rush for general elections in February 2007. Political tension mounted just ahead of the general polls and various political parties held rallies to lure the electorate. The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) took the lead in the campaigns. However, the newly formed All Basotho Convention (ABC), a breakaway from the LCD, attracted a lot of attention too, rekindling political interests amongst many. This new party, formed under the leadership of former Communications, Science and Technology Minister, Thomas Thabane, turned the tables as it posed a significant challenge to the ruling party led by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. LCD came back to power. In the run up to the elections, the LCD was highly vocal and verbally chastised a pool of private media criticizing it for favouring the opposition parties. The opposition was banned from campaigning in state run media - radio, television and newspapers. Only the ruling party was favoured. Its rallies were massively covered by the state media. The opposition parties were awarded slots just for a little time before the polling day. Even musicians who had professed their unwavering support to the ABC saw their recordings off air on state media. The political uncertainty and instability that followed in the year saw the media fraternity suffer in the hands of the state. The latter unleashed its might to clamp down on what it considered dissenting voices. The LCD government strongly believed its power was unjustifiably threatened by an alliance of opposition parties bent on staging a coup. Members of Parliament of five opposition parties were booted out of the House by armed Lesotho Defence Force contingent. Government-media relations Since it broke away from the then ruling Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) in 1997, the LCD has continued to pay a lip service to media freedom and freedom of expression. Initially, the party had expressed its intention to enable media freedom to flourish as part of strengthening fragile democracy. But a series of threats and lawsuits against the media have proved otherwise. During its meetings and rallies held throughout the country, the LCD has strongly attacked and threatened the private media while the opposition adopted soft approach to media in order to win its favour. Some of the media personnel were nearly beaten while others were served with defamation litigations as part of a gag-up attempt. The state regularly cut from air two radio stations People’s Choice FM and Harvest FM accusing them of sowing seats of hatred to the administration. The coverage range of Harvest FM was significantly reduced. Constitution and media-unfriendly laws The Constitution was adopted as a supreme law of the land ahead of the 1993 return to democracy. It guarantees freedom of expression. The Government ambiguously believes freedom of expression encompasses freedom of media. But this is not so, given the fact that there are several restrictive laws on the media freedom that are still prevailing. Section 14 (1) of the Constitution reads: “Every person shall be entitled to, and (except with his own consent) shall not be hindered in his enjoyment of freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference (whether the So This Is Democracy? 2007 -34- Media Institute of Southern Africa