• ALERT Date: June, 2007 Persons: Public Eye newspaper, radio Harvest FM Violation: Other The government of Lesotho has issued an order to all state and parastatal agencies not to buy advertising space in the privately-owned weekly Public Eye and radio Harvest FM. Several state and parastatal advertisers told Public Eye editor Bethuel Thai at the start of June that they had received an order not to buy any more space in his newspaper. When Thai asked to see a copy of the order, they all referred him to government secretary Tlohang Sekhamane, who confirmed that the government had taken this decision but said no written order existed. Nonetheless, Public Eye did in the end obtain a copy of a message from the local government ministry’s human resources department to project and section chiefs saying: “I have been ordered to inform you that requests for advertising services to the newspaper ‘Public Eye’ and radio Harvest FM must cease with immediate effect. I thank you for your usual cooperation.” Since then, no request for advertising has been made by the agencies involved. As a result, Thai was forced to tell his employees he was suspending payment of all salaries until further notice, as 85 per cent of the newspaper’s revenue comes from advertising. He has had no success with his attempts to contact senior government officials to request an explanation or propose a solution. Thai estimates that his newspaper will fold within six months if there is no change in the current situation. • ALERT Date: June 24, 2007 Persons: Kabelo Masoabi Violation: Threatened On 24 June 2007, a Public Eye reporter, Kabelo Masoabi, was verbally attacked at the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy’s (LCD) rally in Makhaleng, Ha Ramabanta, in the Maseru district. Masoabi said he was verbally attacked by the LCD youth leadership on arrival at the rally. The minister of communications, Mothetjoa Metsing, apparently came to his rescue when he intervened and alerted the party secretary general, Mpho Malie, of the fracas. Masoabi said he was called aside by an LCD youth leader who told him to leave the place because he was allegedly biased in his reporting. He was further accused of damaging the image of the LCD. Minister Metsing told reporters at a press conference on June 26 that he protected the journalist from further harassment by giving him a safe seat near the “high table”. The reporter suffered no serious injuries. • ALERT Date: June 22, 2007 Persons: Thabo Thakalekoala Violation: Detained On June 22 2007, freelance journalist and chairperson of MISA, Thabo Thakalekoala, was arrested by police after he read out an open letter on his morning talk show, “Rise and Shine”, on private radio station Harvest FM. The letter, given to him from members of the Lesotho Defence Force, called the Prime Minister an “unwanted ruler” and urged the Police Commissioner to arrest him because, as a person from South Africa, he had broken the law by running for office. Thakalekoala could face at least five years in jail. Thakalekoala refused to reveal the names of the individuals who gave him the letter, and went on hunger strike to persuade the Lesotho government to release him or at least speed up his trial. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -39- Media Institute of Southern Africa